U.S. jobs report pushes dollar up as bond yields rise

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Asked about dollar gains for the week Dollar index up nearly 0.5% on the day Euro settled down 0.5% vs currency exchange rate rises above 110 yen David Henry and Sujata Rao NEW YORK LONDON August 6 - The dollar doubled an earlier gain on Friday after a U.S. government report showed jobs grew more than expected, pushing bond yields and adding arguments for faster tightening of U.S. monetary policy. The Dollar Index against major currencies was up 0.49% to 92.678 at 9: 52 a.m. The report showed that nonfarm payrolls increased in July 943,000 jobs; Economists polled by Reuters predicted a gain of 870,000. The news rekindled dollar momentum from midweek when Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida suggested that conditions for hiking interest rates might be met as soon as late 2022. Fed officials have said that improving employment is critical when they begin to pull further back on extra monetary support - provided for the economy in the pandemic. Clarida's remarks lifted real notes after five weeks of declines, while Treasury yields, excluding inflation, are set to snap a six week period of declines. The yield on the upcoming $1.029 Treasury notes is as high as 1.29%, up from 1.179% on Monday. The dollar rose against the euro to $1.1772, up 0.5%. The Euro was pressured earlier in the day by weaker-than expected German industrial orders data. The Japanese economy rose to 110,25 greenback yen. The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.3888. Expectations for a strong set of U.S. jobs numbers had been heightened slightly on Thursday when initial claimants for state unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 to 385,000 in the week ended 31 July 2018. Analysts have cautioned that the markets will look for evidence that US yields are going higher again. Friday's yield was still nearly a half percentage point lower than at the end of March. Reactions to the monthly jobs reports changed more than not this year in the days after the data was released, strategists at Wells Fargo Securities found when they looked at yields on 10 - year Treasuries. Big moves in exchange rates are unlikely until Federal Reserve officials make clear they are ready to lead other central banks in pulling back economic support, said Joseph Trevisani, senior analyst at fxstreet.com. The Fed is pumping far more money into the US economy and getting it to the rest of the world than anybody else, stated Trevisani. Markets will again be interested for comments from central bankers at a presentation of Fed policymakers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the end of January. The latest Reuters poll of strategists showed most forecast a dollar drop in the next year. We are in a phase in the business cycle where growth and global trade are going to remain relatively solid, and that's going to provide some downside bias for the dollar, said Vasilieos Gkionakis, global head of FX strategy at Lombard Odier Group.