American focus : dollar weakened on data from the U.S. labor market

The U.S. dollar fell against major currencies after data showed the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs than expected by economists. Recent data from the Ministry of Labor showed that job growth in the U.S. slowed sharply in December , closing the year surprisingly weak note and potentially complicating the possible actions of the Federal Reserve System in respect of bond-buying program .

According to a report in December by non-farm payrolls increased by only 74 thousand , compared with an increase of 241 thousand in the previous month , which was revised up from 203 thousand add that this was the lowest monthly increase in within three years.

In addition, the Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate fell to 6.7 % from 7% , although this decline was largely the result of reducing the number of workforce.

Economists had expected the number of people employed in December to increase by 194 thousand and the unemployment rate will remain unchanged - at around 7.0%.

Despite the more than four years of economic recovery , the process of " healing " in the labor market is still far from complete. The unemployment rate remains close to levels that previously only seen during the recession . The proportion of Americans who are either working or looking for work fell to 62.8 % , while reaching a 35- year low.

The euro exchange rate against the dollar earlier fell after it became known that eurozone GDP in the 3rd quarter in line with expectations of analysts. According to final data from the EU statistical office Eurostat, GDP in the treatment zone of the single European currency in the III quarter of 2013. increased by 0.1 % compared with the previous quarter . The results coincided with the preliminary data published in mid-November. On an annual basis Eurozone GDP in July-September 2013. decreased by 0.4 % ( expected to decrease also be 0.4 %).

In 28 countries - members of European Union GDP in III quarter 2013. increased by 0.2 % qoq and 0.1% yoy .

The slowdown in the growth of European economies in parallel with decreasing inflation and falling unemployment - even in the "problem" countries, such as Spain and Greece. Collectively, these data allowed the ECB in early November 2013. lower the interest rate to a record low of 0.25%.

In addition, the dynamics of trade affect expectations official data on employment in the U.S. in December . According to the median forecast of economists , the number of jobs in the U.S. economy grew in December at 197 thousand and the unemployment rate will remain at 7% , minimum five years . Given these data, the overall increase in the number of jobs in 2013 will reach 2.27 million , the highest since 2005. Recall that yesterday, State Department of Labor said the number of applications for unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 to 330,000 in the week ended January 4.

Pound previously fell substantially against the U.S. dollar , which was associated with the release of data for Britain. The Office for National Statistics reported that the volume of production in the UK manufacturing sector and industrial production as a whole has not changed in November, and construction output fell sharply , reducing hopes that the economic recovery was extensive .

According to the report , the total production showed zero growth in November, and the figure for the previous month was revised downwards - to 0.3 % from 0.4 %. We add that the growth of production in the manufacturing sector in October was revised to 0.2 % from 0.4 %. Economists were expecting an increase of 0.4 percent for industrial production and for production in the manufacturing sector .

In addition, data showed that industrial production in the three months to November increased by 0.6 percent , and increased by 2.8 percent on an annualized basis in October ( the strongest growth since May 2011 ) . Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the UK production remains at 8.5 percent lower than during its peak in 2008 before the financial crisis .

Separate data showed that the output of the construction sector in the UK fell by 4.0 percent in November from October - the sharpest drop since June 2012 .

In annual terms, construction output rose 2.2 percent after increasing 5.1 percent in October.