Dollar Slides on Negative Employment Data

USD - Dollar Slides on Negative Employment Data

The Dollar saw an extremely bearish session during last week's trading. The Dollar dropped around 200 pips against the Euro, and the EUR/USD pair rose to the 1.4900 level. The Dollar also dropped close to 300 pips against the Pound. Last week's trading has started with a rather bullish sign for the American currency. The Dollar strengthened on all fronts following a few positive publications on Monday.
The most affective publication appears to be the Pending Home Sales, which showed that the change in number of homes under contract to be sold but still awaiting the closing transactions, rose by 6.1% during September, beating expatiations for a 0.2% rise. Due to the fact that the housing sector was the catalyst for the crisis, positive housing data tend to support the Dollar. However, close to the weekend the Dollar saw a sharp downtrend, which came as a result of the disappointing employment data.
The Non-Farm Employment Change report showed that the U.S economy lost 190,000 jobs in October, failing to reach expectations for a 173,000 loss.
This has led the Unemployment Rate to reach 10.2%, a 26-year low.
The total number of unemployed people in the U.S rose to 15.7 million. As for the week ahead, many interesting data is expected from the U.S economy. On Thursday, the weekly Unemployment Claims will be published. Considering the poor employment data from last week, this report will become even more important. Traders are also advised to follow the U.S Trade Balance on Friday. This report measures the difference in value between imported and exported goods and services during September.
It seems that unless positive figures will be published for both these reports, the Dollar might continue to weaken.