WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The dollar is up slightly against its major European rivals Friday afternoon, but remains little changed overall following the release of the mixed April jobs report this morning.
A report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed weaker than expected job growth in the month of April, although the unemployment rate still fell to its lowest level in over seventeen years.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 164,000 jobs in April compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 192,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in April after holding at 4.1 percent for six straight months. The unemployment rate had been expected to edge down to 4.0 percent.
The dollar climbed to a 4-month high of $1.1910 against the Euro Friday morning, but has since eased back to around $1.1950.
Eurozone economic activity expanded strongly in April but the pace of expansion slowed marginally since March, final data from IHS Markit showed Friday. The composite output index fell slightly to 55.1 in April from 55.2 in March. According to flash estimate, the index remained unchanged at 55.2 in April.
Eurozone retail sales grew at a slower pace in March largely on weak non-food product sales, data from Eurostat showed Friday. Retail sales edged up 0.1 percent month-on-month in March, slower than February's 0.3 percent increase. This was also slower than the expected growth of 0.5 percent.
France's trade deficit widened in March on higher imports, figures from the customs office showed Friday. The trade gap increased to EUR 5.26 billion from EUR 5 billion a month ago. The shortfall was expected to remain unchanged at EUR 5 billion.
France's current account gap widened in the three months ended March, data from the Bank of France showed Friday. The seasonally and working-day-adjusted current account deficit rose to EUR 3.6 billion in the March quarter from EUR 0.3 billion in the previous quarter.
The buck rose to nearly a 4-month high of $1.3485 against the pound sterling Friday, but has since retreated to around $1.3550.
The greenback slipped to a low of Y108.647 against the Japanese Yen Friday, but has since bounced back to around Y109.075.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX