On Friday, the eagerly awaited nonfarm payroll report from the United States revealed the mixed statistics. On the one hand, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 173,000 in August. The figure turned out to be lower than expected as the US Labor Department projected 220,000 new jobs last month. On the other hand, the government revised up the July job growth to 245,000 from 215,000 in the previous estimate. At the same time, the unemployment level fell short of expectations. The indicator edged down to 5.1% in August from 5.3% in July. Analysts expected the unemployment level to decline to 5.2%. Average wages rose by 0.3% beating the forecast of 0.2% growth.
The US dollar responded to the data from the US jobs market with a moderate reinforcement. After the report release, the US dollar index grew 0.13% to the mark of 96.44.
The US dollar managed to gain ground against the single European currency. The euro/dollar pair declined 0.14% to the level of 1.1111, though the pair climbed to the intraday high at 1.1188.
The euro came under pressure after an announcement of the European Central Bank on Thursday. The statement indicated a scenario of expanding the ongoing quantitative easing program due to a threat of worse inflation expectations. So, the ECB downgraded its inflation forecast in light of the negative dynamic of crude prices and a slowdown in China's economy.