After a contentious weekend during which Donald Trump’s and the Republican party suffered several setbacks in the quest for the presidency, the peso has reaped the benefits with a continued climb against the dollar. Trump’s current slump in popularity began with the release of tapes in which the candidate made degrading sexual slurs against women. A less-than-stellar performance in Sunday night’s presidential debate failed to cement Trump as a forerunner in the campaign as Republicans had hoped. The U.S. dollar fell 1.6 percent against the peso to 19.02 on Monday. The greenback also fell slightly against the yen to 102.97, but remained stable against the euro hovering around $1.1187.
Spot gold (XAU) erased some of last week’s losses, rising to $1,262. The British pound, however, was not as lucky, sliding further on Monday after Friday’s “flash crash”. Traders expect continued volatility as they saw the sterling hit $1.2402 on Monday and have every reason to believe that the Brexit will proceed rockier than supporters expected.
Reactions to the NFP Report
Friday’s non-farm payroll report came in below expectations but was still positive enough to increase the chances for a U.S. interest rate hike before the year’s end. 156,000 new jobs were created, lower than the expected 176,000, which served mostly to kill expectations of a November rate hike and to strengthen expectations for the ax to fall in December. November’s upcoming U.S. presidential election has been another reason cited for why a November rate hike is unlikely.