The US dollar dropped for a second day on Thursday as investors booked profits from its precipitous rise in November, sending other major currencies higher. The dollar fell against the euro, yen and Swiss franc, but analysts remained bullish on the longer-term view of the greenback. "It's just a bit of profit-taking," said Juan Perez, foreign currency trader at Tempus Consulting. "The one thing that's inevitable is for the dollar to rise."
The US dollar has risen nearly 3.0 percent against the euro so far in November after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report October 28 bolstered the case for a Federal Reserve interest-rate hike in December. That has pushed traders to back short-term trades on the euro. Latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed short euro positions among speculators in futures markets were at their highest since June.
The dollar fell 0.34 percent against the euro to $1.0778 per euro and was down 0.25 percent against the Swiss franc at 1.0018 francs. The dollar index also fell 0.3 percent to 98.706. The dollar slipped 0.14 percent against the yen to 122.65 yen. Perez pointed to political instability in Portugal, Greece and Spain as well as comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that suggested the bank was open to more easing in the euro zone next month as indicators that Thursday's dollar losses were likely short-lived.
Further illustrating the divergence between the US and euro zone's respective positions, the gap between US and German five-year yields rose to 181 basis points, the highest since 1999. The biggest mover against the US dollar was the Australian dollar, which was buoyed by a surprising jobs report that showed the country's economy created 58,600 jobs last month and knocked 0.3 percentage points off its unemployment rate. The Aussie at one point was 1.1 percent higher versus the dollar in overnight trading. It was last up 0.8 percent at $0.7118.
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