The dollar climbed Friday after a government report on jobs gave investors hope of an improving job market, The Associated Press reports.
The Labor Department said the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9 percent in January, the lowest level since April 2009. Connecticut unemployment was 9 percent in December.
The report wasn’t all good — it showed that the economy added only 36,000 jobs in January, the smallest amount in four months. But economists mostly attributed that low figure to harsh winter weather, not a longer-term weakening of the job market. A string of other economic reports have suggested the U.S. economy is strengthening.
“People were willing to put an asterisk on this one,” said UBS currency strategist Brian Kim in Stamford, Conn.
In mid-morning trading in New York, the euro slid to $1.3562 from $1.3639, retreating further from a three-month high of $1.3861 struck on Wednesday. Fears of a deepening European debt crisis had driven the euro lower since early November, but it has rebounded this year because of hopes of a stronger solution from European Union officials for debt problems.
