Treasury - Daily Forex for day 10.01.2005

The U.S. currency soared to six-week highs against the euro on Friday helped by dollar-supportive remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow. Earlier, the currency fell briefly after a report showing lower-than-expected U.S. jobs growth in December. Non-farm payrolls were up 157,000, lagging behind the economists' prediction of 175,000. However, jobs growth in November and October was revised upwards to 137,000 and 312,000, respectively. Snow stated that the United States supports a strong dollar and wants to "do things", including knocking down the huge budget deficit to boost the currency.

The Czech unit slid against the euro late on Friday after hitting a new two-year peak of 30.250 to the euro early in the session. This morning the crown firmed after a report showing consumer prices rose 0.1% in December from November, due mostly to surging food prices. The market had expected a 0.1% monthly drop in the CPI. On the annual basis, inflation was up 2.8% in December. Another report showed the jobless rate jumped more than expected in December, to 9.5% from November's 8.9%. Analysts had forecast a smaller increase, to just 9.3%.