Dollar gains against major currencies following U.S. jobs data

NEW YORK: The dollar gained on Friday after data showed slower than expected U.S. jobs growth, suggesting the Federal Reserve could leave interest rates unchanged later this month.

Financial markets had been bracing for a probable Supreme Court decision that could strike down President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But the court will not issue that ruling on Friday.

The U.S. economy added 50,000 jobs in December, according to Labor Department data on Friday. That was lower than an estimate of 60,000 jobs growth forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

The dollar rose marginally across peer currencies as the data before paring those gains. The greenback was up 0.72% to 158 against the Japanese yen and was up 0.25% to 0.801 against the Swiss franc .

The euro was down 0.22% against the dollar at $1.1633. The dollar index rose 0.27% to 99.14.

“In real life, the standard error margin for non-farm payrolls is 20,000 and so I don’t think the market is going to pay much to this,” said Steve Englander, head of global G10 FX Research at Standard Chartered.

“If the Supreme Court rules on tariffs, I think that will be the most important development of the day.”

Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), opens new tab to impose tariffs without the approval of Congress.

If the decision goes against Trump, company executives, customs brokers and trade lawyers are girding for a possible fight to secure refunds of about $150 billion, opens new tab from the U.S.

“It’s possible the Court could find a way to mitigate the impact of the fiscal stream in terms of refunds or what they can do in the future. But if they completely strike everything down, we actually think the bond market will react really badly,” Englander added.

Fed funds futures are pricing an implied probability of 95% that the central bank holds interest rates at its next two-day meet on January 27 and 28, up from 68% a month ago, the CME Group’s FedWatch tool shows.