By CountingPips.com
U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls data released today showed that jobs declined the least since August 2008 and the unemployment rate fell for the first time in fifteen months. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report showed that U.S. payrolls shed 247,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percent to 9.4 percent. July was the 
nineteenth straight month that companies have shed workers but the employment decrease was the least since payrolls declined by 175,000 workers in August 2008.
June’s employment data was revised downwards to a loss of 443,000 jobs after originally showing a decline of 467,000. According to the Department of Labor, the average decline in jobs from May through July was 331,000 after an average decline of 645,000 jobs from November 2008 through April 2009.
The unemployment rate dip was the first decline since April 2008 after increasing in June to 9.5 percent. The July report was better than the market forecasts that were expecting a loss of approximately 328,000 jobs and expecting the unemployment rate to reach 9.6 percent.
The decline in jobs was spread throughout most economic sectors with the exceptions of the education & health services sector which saw 17,000 jobs created, leisure & hospitality which added 9,000 workers and government hiring which gained 7,000 jobs for the month.
The service-providing sector lost 119,000 total jobs in July with professional & business services shedding 38,000 workers and retail trade cutting 44,000 workers. The goods-producing sector lost 128,000 jobs for the month as the manufacturing sector cut 52,000 jobs and the construction sector lost 76,000 jobs.
U.S. Dollar mostly stronger today in Forex Trading.
The U.S. dollar has been mostly stronger in forex trading today against the other major currencies after the employment report. The euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Japanese yen and Canadian dollar have all declined versus the American currency so far today while the New Zealand dollar has been virtually unchanged.
The EUR/USD pair has declined from today’s opening rate of 1.4360 dollars at 00:00GMT to trading to 1.4183 at around noon today ET in the U.S. trading session according to currency data by Oanda.
The GBP/USD has declined from today’s opening level at 1.6770 to trading today at 1.6681 and looks to be on the way to decreasing for the second day in a row.
The US dollar has gained sharply today against the yen as the USD/JPY opened today at 95.32 and has advanced to trading at 97.65. The dollar has also jumped sharply today versus the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF has gone from the 1.0645 opening rate to trading at 1.0827.
The dollar has increased today against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD has advanced to trading around the 1.0837 level today after opening at 1.0772.
The Australian Aussie has fallen versus the US dollar today as the AUD/USD has declined to the 0.8367 level after opening at 0.8378. The New Zealand kiwi has traded almost unchanged against the dollar as the NZD/USD has reached the 0.6715 level today after opening the day at 0.6712.
USD/JPY Chart – The US Dollar advancing sharply today against the Japanese Yen in Forex Trading after the US jobs report declined less than expected.
