SINGAPORE — A battered dollar edged marginally higher on Monday after a dismal US jobs report and President Donald Trump’s firing of a top labour official stunned investors and led them to ramp up bets of imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Data on Friday showed US employment growth undershot expectations in July while the nonfarm payrolls count for the prior two months was revised down by a massive 258,000 jobs, suggesting a sharp deterioration in labour market conditions.
Adding to headwinds for markets, Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer the same day, accusing her of faking the jobs numbers.
An unexpected resignation by Fed Governor Adriana Kugler also opened the door for Trump to make an imprint on the central bank much earlier than anticipated. Trump has been at loggerheads with the Fed for not lowering interest rates sooner.
The barrage of developments dealt a one-two punch to the dollar, which sank more than 2 percent against the yen and roughly 1.5 percent against the euro on Friday.
The greenback recovered some of its losses against the Japanese currency on Monday, last trading 0.14 percent higher at 147.60 yen. Still, it was down about 3 yen from its peak on Friday.
The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.1560, while sterling eased 0.1 percent to $1.3263.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar edged up 0.2 percent to 98.86, after sliding more than 1 percent on Friday.
“Market reactions to Friday night’s events were swift and decisive,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. “Equities and the US dollar tumbled, along with yields.”
