Dollar Soars After Jobs Report

The dollar surged against its main rivals Friday after official data showed U.S. jobs growth in December was much stronger than economists expected. The dollar jumped to 118.74 yen after the data, up from 117.74 late Thursday. The euro sunk to $1.0823, down from $1.0917. The pound sunk to $1.4589, from $1.4613. The U.S. economy added 292,000 new jobs in December, surpassing a consensus estimate of 215,000 new nonfarm jobs from a survey of economists conducted by MarketWatch, while jobs growth in November and October was revised higher. "[The report] kind of backs up what the Fed was thinking was going to happen, so they probably feel pretty justified for raising rates [in December]," said John Doyle, director of markets at Tempus Inc. "Today's print probably helps the odds of a March increase, but our position is that [the Fed] won't raise rates four times this year."