Dollar falls to 2-year low, shares rally after weak U.S. jobs

The dollar slid to a two-year low against the euro and global equity markets rose for a fifth straight session on Tuesday after weak U.S. jobs data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will keep its easy-money policy intact into 2014.
The S&P 500 index, a benchmark for U.S. stocks, set an intraday record high, while U.S. Treasuries yields fell to the lowest levels in three months on the labor market report.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 148,000 in September, the Labor Department said in a report delayed by the 16-day shutdown of the federal government. The total was well below economists' estimates of 180,000 new jobs.
Data for August was revised to show more positions created than previously reported, but revisions to the July figures showed employment gains that were the weakest since June 2012.
Economists and market analysts said the tepid pace of U.S. job growth supported the decision by the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in September not to begin to pare its purchases of $85 billion a month in bonds to bolster the economy.
Stocks rose on Wall Street, in Europe and elsewhere in the Americas after the jobs report. The euro jumped and the dollar index slipped, while government debt prices rose on both sides of the Atlantic, pushing yields lower.
Equities later pared gains, and the technology-rich Nasdaq composite index briefly slipped into negative territory before recovering.
MSCI's all-country stock index, which tracks stocks in 45 countries, rose 0.72% to levels last seen in January 2008. The FTSEurofirst 300 of leading European shares rose 0.54% to close at 1,288.06.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 97.76 points, or 0.64%, at 15,489.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 11.86 points, or 0.68%, at 1,756.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.00 points, or 0.28%, at 3,931.05. The euro hit a high of $1.3792 against the dollar, its strongest level since Nov. 14, 2011. It was last at $1.3782, up 0.74%.
Against the yen, the dollar fell as low as 97.86 yen was last down 0.06 percent at 98.12 yen in choppy trade.
Benchmark 10-year notes were last up 25/32 in price to yield 2.516%, the lowest since July 24.
German Bund futures hit two-week highs, closing 63 ticks higher on the day at 140.54, while yields on German 10-year government debt fell below 1.80%.
Brent crude oil rose above $110 per barrel, pulling its premium above U.S. light crude to the widest in six months, after news of a deterioration in relations between the United States and key OPEC oil producer Saudi Arabia.
Brent for December rose 33 cents a barrel to settle at $109.97. U.S. crude futures slipped $1.42 to settle at $97.80 a barrel.
U.S. gold for December, the most active gold futures contract on New York's COMEX, rose $26.80, or 2%, to settle at $1,342.60 an ounce. European equities set five-year highs in a broad-based rally spurred by the jobs report and corporate results that beat analysts' estimates.