WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The dollar is losing ground against its major rivals Friday afternoon, following the release of the all important November employment report. The increase in employment and the drop in the unemployment rate has further cemented the opinion among traders that they can likely expect a rate hike by the Federal Reserve at the central bank's December meeting.
Employment in the U.S. increased by a little more than economists had been anticipating in the month of November, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday.
The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 178,000 jobs in November following a downwardly revised increase of 142,000 jobs in October.
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 170,000 jobs compared to the addition of 161,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent in November from 4.9 percent in October. The unemployment rate had been expected to remain unchanged.
With the unexpected decrease, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since hitting a matching rate in August of 2007.
The report also said average hourly employee earnings fell by $0.03 to $25.89 in November. The annual rate of wage growth subsequently slowed to 2.5 percent from 2.8 percent.
The dollar climbed to an early high of $1.0624 against the Euro Friday, but has since retreated to around $1.0660.
Eurozone producer prices rose for the second straight month in October, and at a faster-than-expected pace, figures from Eurostat showed Friday.
Industrial producer prices climbed 0.8 percent month-over-month in October, exceeding economists' expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent. That was also faster than the 0.1 percent slight rise in September.
The Bank of England's current policy stance is appropriate as output has been better-than-expected amid a pick-up in inflation and there was no need to raise interest rates in the near term, the bank's chief economist Andrew Haldane said Friday.
'Output has out-performed those expectations, while expectations of inflation have picked up, largely as a result of sterling's depreciation,' Haldane said in a speech at the Materials Processing Institute in Redcar, England.
'That configuration now leaves me comfortable with the current stance of monetary policy, with no bias on the direction of the next move in interest rates.'
The buck has dropped to nearly a 2-month low of $1.2710 against the pound sterling Friday afternoon, from an early high of $1.2565.
U.K. construction sector expanded at a faster pace in November on robust activity and new orders, survey data from IHS Markit showed Friday.
The Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose unexpectedly to 52.8 in November from 52.6 in October. The score was forecast to fall to 52.2.
The greenback has slipped to around Y113.740 against the Japanese Yen this afternoon, from a high of Y114.202 this morning.
The monetary base in Japan was up 21.5 percent on year in November, the Bank of Japan said on Friday, coming in at 417.657 trillion yen. That follows the 22.1 percent spike in October.
Japan's gross domestic product increased for a second straight month in October, the Japan Center For Economic Research said in a report on Thursday.
Gross domestic product rose 0.2 percent from September, when the measure increased at the same pace, the monthly estimate from the JCER showed.
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