TOKYO: The U.S. dollar struggled to regain its footing with the safe-haven yen hovering near a six-month peak on Friday, as traders took stock of the fallout from President Donald Trump’s aggressive and far-reaching new tariff measures.
The dollar was steady after bouncing off six-month troughs to the euro and sterling overnight, with the focus now turning to a crucial monthly U.S. payrolls report later in the day for clues on the health of the economy and the outlook for monetary easing.
Trump’s harsher-than-expected tariffs, announced just over 24 hours earlier, had sent shockwaves through markets. Stocks bore the brunt of a searing selloff, sending investors into the safety of assets such as bonds and gold on fears a full-blown trade war could trigger a global recession and fuel inflation.
The dollar had already been on the back foot this year after initial euphoria over Trump’s policy agenda morphed into worries that his focus on trade barriers could lead to stagflation or even a U.S. recession.
The dollar index , a measure of the currency against a basket of six major peers, plunged 1.9% on Thursday, its worst day since November 2022.
The greenback edged down 0.15% to 145.89 yen as of 0057 GMT, after alternating between smalls gains and losses in early trading on Friday. It slumped 2.2% in the prior session, and dipped as low as 145.19 yen for the first time since October 2.
The euro inched up 0.08% to $1.1060, after jumping as high as $1.1147 on Thursday, a level not seen since September 30.
Sterling was steady at $1.3103, following its push as high as $1.3207 a day earlier, the first time it had hit that level since October 3.
Wall Street’s main indexes suffered their biggest one-day percentage losses since 2020 on Thursday, the day after President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day.
