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ECONOMY | 06-03-2019 17:41

Peso jumps above 41 per US dollar after long weekend

The peso rose against the dollar today, jumping 87 cents to close above 41 pesos per greenback.

The peso rose against the dollar today, jumping 87 cents to close above 41 pesos per greenback after the long weekend, as the US currency continues to strengthen.

According to an average Central Bank poll, the national currency closed at 39.76 per dollar to buy and 41.71 to sell.

In the wholesale market, the exchange rate rose 68 cents to 40.35 pesos per dollar to buy and 40.45 pesos to sell, Noticias Argentinas reported.

The rise of the national currency follows from President Mauricio Macri's state of the nation address to Congress last week, in which he defended his administration's policies and reiterated the importance of the fight against inflation and poverty.

Globally, the dollar rose in value for the sixth day in a row. Bloomberg’s Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the performance of 10 leading global currencies against the dollar, hit a three-week high. All of this comes even as US stocks tumbled to their lowest point in the last three weeks.

With the arrival of the monthly US jobs report, which is set to come out Friday and will likely signal an uptick in unemployment, stocks are expected to drop even further before rebounding. 

The rise in unemployment could be due in large part to significant layoffs from General Motors, Wells Fargo, and other major US corporations, but a negative report would still raise more nuanced concerns with investors.

Economists are worried that reportage of higher unemployment rates could add to the economic unease building over trade tensions and push US stocks even lower.

Overall, the US economy should slow "considerably" in 2019 as the boost from last year's economic stimulus fades, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Wednesday.

Still, the dollar remains strong. Its value jumped again on Tuesday upon news of growth in the US services sector, the mainstay of its economy, which expanded more quickly than expected in February.

- TIMES/AGENCIES
 

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