* Trump's COVID diagnosis adds more uncertainty to election season
* Pelosi says U.S. airline deal "imminent"
* Commodities-exposed currencies under pressure
* U.S. jobs growth slows in September
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments, adds Pelosi's comment on airline deal)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The safe-haven yen and dollar rose on Friday after President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19, rattling investors just a month before November's U.S. presidential election.
By afternoon trading, markets had calmed down, with the dollar and yen still up but moved in narrow ranges.
Data showing U.S. nonfarm payrolls rising less than expected in September, but with a drop in the unemployment rate, had little impact on currencies, as markets focused on Trump's health.
Trump, who had played down the threat of the coronavirus pandemic for months, said he and his wife Melania had tested positive for COVID-19 and were going into quarantine, upending the race for the White House. news sparked some selling on Wall Street, while U.S. Treasury prices were lower after an initial rally.
The yen made its sharpest gain in more than a month to reach a one-week high of 104.95 against the dollar, then steadied. The greenback was last down 0.2% at 105.365 yen JPY=EBS .
Implied volatility gauges for the yen rose to a four-week high of 7.62 vols JPY1MO= over the next month, signaling more choppy trading ahead.
Mike Schumacher, senior macro strategist at Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Securities in New York, said Trump's COVID diagnosis added a layer of uncertainty to an already volatile election season, but the sharp market reaction from earlier in the global session has faded a bit.
"You can take one view and say that...this could limit the amount of political news over the next month," said Schumacher. "Trump can't really campaign and if Biden chooses to do a bit less also, you might get pretty limited news. That could reduce volatility."
News that a $25 billion U.S. airlines deal was "imminent", according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also somewhat eased some pressure on risk assets, some analysts said. Pelosi on Friday asked airlines to put a hold on furloughs and firings. seen as riskier bets fell across the board, with a fall in oil prices also pressuring the commodities-exposed Russian rouble RUB= , South African rand ZAR= and Australian dollar AUD=D3 .
Data showing slowing U.S. employment had marginal FX impact, but it underscored the challenges the economy faced as it tries to emerge out of recession.
In the last monthly employment report before the Nov. 3 presidential election, the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls increased by 661,000 jobs last month after advancing 1.489 million in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 850,000 jobs for September. also looks like the best of the jobs rebound is behind us, leaving a gaping hole in the labor market — where barely more than half of the 22 million employment carnage has now been recouped and the easy part is in the rear-view mirror," said Dave Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist, at Rosenberg Research
In afternoon trading, the dollar rose 0.1% against a basket of six major currencies =USD to 93.823, but remains down 0.8% for the week, its biggest weekly drop since late August.
The euro EUR=EBS fell 0.3% against the dollar to $1.1718.
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Currency bid prices at 2:52PM (1852 GMT) Description
RIC
Last
U.S. Close Pct Change
YTD Pct
High Bid
Low Bid
Previous
Change
Session
Euro/Dollar
EUR=
$1.1714
$1.1747
-0.28%
+4.50%
+1.1750
+1.1697 Dollar/Yen
JPY=
105.3700
105.5000
-0.12%
-3.21%
+105.6600 +104.9500 Euro/Yen
EURJPY=
123.43
123.95
-0.42%
+1.21%
+124.0000 +123.0300 Dollar/Swiss
CHF=
0.9203
0.9183
+0.22%
-4.91%
+0.9218
+0.9182 Sterling/Dollar GBP=
1.2932
1.2889
+0.33%
-2.47%
+1.2953
+1.2839 Dollar/Canadian CAD=
1.3307
1.3287
+0.15%
+2.47%
+1.3330
+1.3277 Australian/Doll AUD=
0.7157
0.7183
-0.36%
+1.94%
+0.7189
+0.7132 ar
Euro/Swiss
EURCHF=
1.0779
1.0788
-0.08%
-0.67%
+1.0796
+1.0769 Euro/Sterling
EURGBP=
0.9057
0.9111
-0.59%
+7.12%
+0.9123
+0.9045 NZ
NZD=
0.6630
0.6645
-0.23%
-1.57%
+0.6654
+0.6615 Dollar/Dollar
Dollar/Norway
9.3235
9.3057
+0.19%
+6.21%
+9.4077
+9.2825 Euro/Norway
EURNOK=
10.9216
10.9278
-0.06%
+11.02%
+11.0259
+10.8808 Dollar/Sweden
SEK=
8.9290
8.9129
-0.14%
-4.48%
+8.9637
+8.8870 Euro/Sweden
EURSEK=
10.4610
10.4752
-0.14%
-0.08%
+10.5090
+10.4240