Bloomberg reports that the dollar rose to its highest against the yen in two-and-a-half years and gained versus the euro after a government report showed the U.S. economy in November added the most jobs in four months.
Traders kept bets the Federal Reserve will increase its benchmark interest rate three more times to 4.75% after the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 215,000 jobs last month. The euro weakened a day after the European Central Bank raised rates for the first time in five years.
``With the ECB out of the way and now the job data out of the way, we're in for another good dollar run,'' said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. ``Traders won't fight the trend. They want to see it accelerate.''
Against the yen, the dollar climbed to 121.15, from 120.64 late yesterday, at 10:25 a.m. in New York, according to electronic currency-dealing system EBS. It earlier reached 121.24, the highest since March 24, 2003. The U.S. currency also advanced to $1.1684 per euro, from $1.1738.
The Labor Department figure was 5,000 more than the median forecast from 70 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The jobless rate held at 5 percent.
