The euro extended losses against the dollar and the yen on Monday as investors took profits after the single currency rallied to multi-month highs overnight in the wake of Emmanuel Macron’s presidential election victory in France.
EUR/USD was down 0.45% to 1.0949 by 10.24 GMT after rising as high as 1.1022 overnight, the strongest level since early November.
Pro-EU centrist Macron topped 66% against just under 34% for far-right Marine Le Pen in the second round of voting on Sunday, delivering a result that most investors were hoping for.
The victory for Macron signaled that political risks in France and across Europe are receding, in the wake of the populist surge which resulted in Brexit and propelled Donald Trump to the White House.
The euro retreated as gains had already been priced in after Macron’s strong showing in the first round of voting two weeks ago.
Investors were also turning their attention to the difficulties Macron will face in implementing his economic program, which includes labor market reforms.
EUR/JPY was down 0.63% at 123.17 after touching one-year peaks of 124.49 overnight.
The dollar slid lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.2% to 112.48, off an overnight high of 112.95.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.34% at 98.75 after falling to an overnight low of 98.47.
The French election overshadowed Friday’s U.S. jobs report, which showed that the economy added 211,000 jobs last month, beating expectations for a gain of 185,000 and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.4%, a near a 10-year low.
The report also showed that the prior month’s figure of 98,000 was revised down to an even lower 79,000.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in April. However, downward revisions to previous months lowered the year-on-year increase to 2.5%, the smallest gain since August 2016, from 2.6% in March.
The jobs data did little to alter the view that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in June. Markets are pricing in around a 75% chance of a hike at the Fed\’s June meeting, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
