NEW YORK- The safe-haven yen and Swiss franc gained as global equities and bond yields fell on fears about the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has resulted in renewed restrictions in parts of the world, and concerns about possible aggressive action by the Federal Reserve to curb surging inflation.
“Volatility remains the norm in recent weeks amid changing outlooks on monetary policy, inflation worries, and now the Omicron uncertainties,” Action Economics said in its latest blog on the market.
The dollar reversed gains to trade little changed on the day after the release of a weaker-than-expected US jobs report, which still included positive revisions for previous months and solid details about the labor market. Market participants viewed the payrolls report as not really altering the Fed’s plan to accelerate tapering of its asset purchases and possibly raise interest rates multiple times next year despite the Omicron threat.
US non-farm payrolls increased by 210,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls would rise by 550,000 jobs.
October’s job growth was revised up to 546,000 positions from the initial estimate of 531,000 and September’s jump was increased to 379,000 from 321,000, for a net 82,000 two-month gain .– Reuters
