By CountingPips.com
The US dollar has fallen sharply today in forex trading action following the worse than expected monthly government jobs report. The American currency has been on the defensive versus the euro, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Swiss franc and the New Zealand dollar in trading today while showing a bit of gains versus the 
Canadian dollar.
Today’s trading was all about the US nonfarm payrolls report. The jobs data disappointed and came in much less than expected with a gain of 39,000 jobs for November.
Market forecasters and economists were expecting the nonfarm payroll report to show a gain of approximately 150,000 jobs for the month.
The unemployment rate rose back up to 9.8 percent in November from 9.6 percent and reached its highest point in seven months. The unemployment rate has now been over nine percent for 19 months in a row which marks the most on record.
October’s employment data was revised higher to show an increase of 172,000 jobs after a gain of 151,000 jobs in the original report. September’s data was also revised to show a decrease of 24,000 jobs compared with the previous release that reported a loss of 41,000 jobs.
Private companies created 50,000 jobs in November following an increase of 160,000 private-sector jobs in October. The service sector added 65,000 jobs in November while the goods producing sector fell by 15,000 jobs. Professional and business services led the way in the service sector with job creation of 53,000 workers while education and health services hiring added 30,000 jobs in November.
The weak jobs report pushed the dollar lower against the euro for a third straight day while the Australian and New Zealand dollars have also gained versus the American currency for three days in a row. The Japanese yen and Swiss franc are both trading higher against the US dollar for a second straight day.
The US stock markets, meanwhile, have been mixed with the Dow Jones industrial average falling by approximately 15 points, the NASDAQ up by over five points and the S&P 500 lower by approximately 1 point before the end of the US session.
Gold has been higher by $19.80 to trade at the $1408.30 per ounce level while oil has risen also by $1.26 to trade at the $89.26 per barrel level.
