The greenback strengthened against the majors following the highly anticipated June jobs report, pushing the euro toward the 1.40-figure and the sterling to 1.6330. The US equity bourses fell sharply, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all lower by over 2% in morning trading.

The June labor report was mixed with non-farm payrolls surging sharply higher than expected and closely tracking yesterday’s ADP private sector payrolls. The data revealed a loss of 467k jobs compared with estimates for a slight worsening to -363k from May at -345k. However, the unemployment rate climbed higher in June, albeit by less than consensus expectations for an increase to 9.6%, instead edging up to 9.5% from 9.4% a month earlier. Average earnings for the month were flat compared with an upwardly revised 0.2% reading in May, while the average workweek slipped marginally to 33.0 hours from 33.10 hours previously.

Also released today saw May durable goods orders unchanged from April at 1.8% and factory orders improve by more than estimates at 1.2% in May versus a downwardly revised April reading at 0.5%.

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