Japanese Yen steadies against US Dollar after strong NFP report
- US Nonfarm Payrolls rise by 162K in August, well above the 56K increase expected.
- The Unemployment Rate remains unchanged at 4.1%, while annual wage growth eases slightly to 3.1%.
- The Japanese Yen remains supported by expectations of tighter monetary policy in Japan.
USD/JPY trades around 155.85 on Friday at the time of writing, virtually unchanged on the day. The pair remains stable despite the US Dollar's (USD) positive reaction to a much stronger-than-expected US employment report, as the Japanese Yen (JPY) retains support from expectations of monetary tightening in Japan.
United States (US) Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) increased by 162K in August, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday, compared with market expectations for an increase of just 56K. July's figure was revised to 21K, while June's reading was raised to 31K.
The report also showed that the Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, in line with expectations. The Labor Force Participation Rate rose to 61.6% from 61.4% previously. Meanwhile, annual Average Hourly Earnings growth eased slightly to 3.1% from 3.2% in July.
The substantial upside surprise in job creation provides immediate support to the US Dollar by easing concerns over a sharp deterioration in the US labor market. However, this boost is not enough to push USD/JPY significantly higher, as the strength of the Japanese Yen offsets the Greenback's positive reaction.
Japanese Yen Price Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Canadian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.23% | 0.20% | 0.17% | 0.52% | 0.18% | 0.20% | 0.50% | |
| EUR | -0.23% | -0.04% | -0.07% | 0.32% | -0.06% | -0.01% | 0.28% | |
| GBP | -0.20% | 0.04% | -0.04% | 0.36% | -0.01% | 0.00% | 0.30% | |
| JPY | -0.17% | 0.07% | 0.04% | 0.39% | 0.02% | 0.06% | 0.33% | |
| CAD | -0.52% | -0.32% | -0.36% | -0.39% | -0.37% | -0.34% | -0.06% | |
| AUD | -0.18% | 0.06% | 0.01% | -0.02% | 0.37% | 0.04% | 0.29% | |
| NZD | -0.20% | 0.01% | -0.01% | -0.06% | 0.34% | -0.04% | 0.28% | |
| CHF | -0.50% | -0.28% | -0.30% | -0.33% | 0.06% | -0.29% | -0.28% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).