Markets

Yen Briefly Surges to ¥151 Against Dollar; Hits Three-Week High

Reuters
A man walks by an electronic screen displaying a graph showing yen exchange rates surging against the U.S. dollar in Tokyo on Thursday.

By Yasuhiro Kobayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

12:29 JST, May 4, 2024

NEW YORK — The yen briefly surged to the upper ¥151 range against the dollar in New York trading Friday, a more-than-three-week high, following the April U.S. jobs report released earlier the day.

The yen was trading in the lower ¥153 range against the dollar prior to the release of the jobs report but appreciated by more than ¥1 in about 10 minutes afterwards.

The U.S. Labor Department said that April nonfarm payroll growth slowed substantially from March, falling short of market expectations.

U.S. long-term interest rates declined over speculations that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board would delay interest-rate cuts.

The buying of the yen and selling of the dollar accelerated on the narrowing of the Japan-U.S. interest rate gap.