Dollar tumbles on weaker than expected jobs growth

By Karen BrettellThe dollar tumbled on Thursday after the closely watched employment report for June showed that employers added fewer jobs than economists had expected last month, while the Japanese yen gained sharply as traders braced for possible intervention from Japanese authorities.Employers…

By Karen Brettell

The dollar tumbled on Thursday after the closely watched employment report for June showed that employers added fewer jobs than economists had expected last month, while the Japanese yen gained sharply as traders braced for possible intervention from Japanese authorities.

Employers added 57,000 jobs, below economists expectations for 110,000 job gains. Unemployment slipped to 4.2%, from 4.3%.

Fed funds futures traders are now pricing in 49% odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike by September, down from 67% before the data.

The dollar index TVC:DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was last down 0.71% at 100.68, with the euro FX:EURUSD up 0.68% at $1.1453.

Against the Japanese yen FX_IDC:USDJPY, the dollar weakened 1.09% to 160.78.