The increase in unemployment in the United States caused the dollar to fall below R$ 5.20, after three consecutive days of high. The stock market rose, but was unable to reverse the accumulated decline in the week.
The commercial dollar closed this Friday (2) sold at R$ 5.185, with a decrease of R$ 0.037 (-1.02%). The price even dropped to R$ 5.16 around 3:30 pm, but slowed down near the end of negotiations.
Despite today’s drop, the US currency closed the week up 2.11%. On Monday (29), the currency had dropped to R$5.03, before the release of data on the US economy brought pessimism to the international market. In 2022, the dollar accumulates a decline of 7.01%.
On the stock market, the day was marked by recovery. After three consecutive declines, the Ibovespa index, on the B3, closed the day at 110,864 points, up 0.42%. The indicator resisted the fall of US stock markets, thanks to actions by construction companies and banks. Even with today’s gains, the stock market ended the week with a 1.28% drop.
The global financial market had a day of relief after the release of mixed US labor market data. Although the world’s largest economy created 315,000 jobs in August, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7% as new people began to look for work.
Rising unemployment reduced pressure on the Federal Reserve (Fed, US Central Bank) to raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage point at this month’s meeting. An eventual slowdown in the US economy could make the Fed raise interest rates by 0.5 point at the next meeting.
Higher rates in advanced economies encourage capital flight from emerging countries such as Brazil. In recent days, the release of unemployment insurance data and the performance of the North American industry caused tension in the market, reinforcing the impression that recent interest rate hikes were still not enough to curb inflation in the United States, which is at the highest level in 41 years.
*With information from Reuters
