By CountingPips.com
The U.S. dollar has been trading mostly lower in the forex markets against the other major currencies following today’s government employment report. The British pound, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar have all gained ground versus the American currency while the euro and the Swiss franc trade almost unchanged.
The U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls data released today showed that December jobs increased by less than expected and was a 
disappointment to those looking for a bigger number following Wednesday’s ADP employment surge. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls report showed that U.S. payrolls rose by 103,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percent to 9.4 percent.
Overall for 2010, 1.1 million jobs were created for an average gain of 94,000 jobs per month, according to the report.
November’s employment data was revised to a gain of 71,000 jobs after originally showing a rise of 39,000 and follows a revised increase of 210,000 jobs created in October.
The December report came in worse than the market forecasts that were expecting a rise of approximately 150,000 jobs but did manage to beat the expectations that the unemployment rate would decrease to 9.7 percent.
The gain in jobs was led by the service-providing sector which created 115,000 total jobs in December with education and health services adding 44,000 workers and leisure & hospitality services also adding 47,000 jobs. Retail trade added approximately 12,000 jobs for the month while professional and business service jobs increased by 7,000.
The goods-producing sector saw a decline of 2,000 workers in December as construction jobs fell by 16,000 workers while manufacturing rose by 10,000 jobs. Government hiring dipped by 10,000 workers for the month.
The US stock markets have been almost unchanged today following the report with the Dow Jones industrial average increasing by over 5 points while the NASDAQ has decreased by over 1 point and the S&P 500 is just about unchanged at time of writing.
Oil has risen by $0.47 to the $88.86 per barrel level while gold futures has continued its downward trajectory with a decrease by $15.90 to trade at the $1355.50 per ounce level.
