Early trade in New York: dollar springs back as solid US jobs report

The dollar rose on Friday, boosted by a solid US jobs report, but was headed for a second straight weekly loss after tumbling the day before on mixed US economic data and apparent action by Chinese authorities to shore up the yuan. The dollar gained broadly against major currencies after the US non-farm payrolls report showed a slowing in hiring in December but an increase in wages, setting the economy up for further interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve this year.
The dollar hit a session high against the yen of 116.74 yen, while the euro, after hitting a one-week high immediately after the report's release, fell to a session low of $1.0536. October and November figures were revised to show 19,000 more jobs added than previously reported. The US economy created 2.16 million jobs in 2016 with the year-on-year increase in average hourly earnings rising to 2.9 percent.
"Obviously the focus (of the market) was more on the revision from last month because if you just look at the headline number it was weaker than expected," said Sireen Harajli, currency strategist at Mizuho. "But if you look at it overall it essentially is a flat reading, so it's pretty much in line with data we're seeing in the US Growth continues to be moderate." Sterling slipped after two days of gains and ahead of a decision in the next week or two on parliament's role in Brexit negotiations, while Mexico's peso was boosted by a second straight day of currency intervention from its central bank. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was at up 0.4 percent at 101.92 after having set a 14-year high of 103.820 three days ago.