Specialist Michael Pistillo works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Aug 5, 2026, in New York. (Photo: AP/Yuki Iwamura)
08 Aug 2026 05:31AM
NEW YORK: The dollar fell sharply Friday (Aug 7) after the US economy shed thousands of jobs in July, an economic blow that lowered the risk of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve that could slow growth in the world's biggest economy.Stocks gained on the report that showed 23,000 jobs were lost last month, upending expectations that 80,000 to 100,000 new posts would be created. Wall Street's S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to close at a new record, with the tech-focused Nasdaq up more than one percent and the Dow also closing in the black.Nearly every European market closed higher, with Paris, Frankfurt and Milan again reaching all-time highs.Combined with steep downward revisions to US jobs readings in May and June, the data is "likely to revive concerns among Fed officials about the health of the labour market and make them less inclined to commit to near-term tightening," said Thomas Ryan, an economist at Capital Economics.Art Hogan at B. Riley Wealth Management said the new data would likely give the Federal Reserve pause in considering interest rate hikes."It certainly changed the dynamic of the predicting markets about monetary policy," he told AFP. "There was a little bit of a respite in the rise in Treasury yields ... and that also takes away a bit of a headwind for equities."
