Mexican Peso Ends the Day Flat but Closes the Week in the Red

The Mexican peso closed unchanged against the U.S. dollar at the end of the trading week, amid a market digesting the latest updates on U.S.-China trade tensions and fresh labor data from the world’s largest economy. According to the official rate from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), the exchange rate ended the session at 19.5985 pesos per dollar. Compared to the previous reference price of 19.5946—used due to Thursday’s holiday and lack of an official close—the peso posted a marginal decline of 0.02%. During the session, the dollar traded in a range between 19.5487 and 19.7020 pesos. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.20% to 99.99 points. On the geopolitical front, China announced Friday that it is “evaluating” a U.S. offer to hold talks over the 145% tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Chinese goods—measures that continue to weigh on the global economy. On the economic side, U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 177,000 in April, beating market expectations of 138,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, in line with forecasts, while average hourly earnings increased by 0.2%. Following Thursday’s Labor Day holiday, local traders also focused on the latest Banxico survey of private-sector analysts, which lowered their growth forecast for Mexico’s economy this year to just 0.20%. Mounting concerns over weak economic activity may give Banxico more confidence to accelerate monetary policy normalization—provided the peso does not weaken significantly. On a weekly basis, the peso posted a decline. Compared to last Friday’s rate of 19.5223 pesos per dollar, the local currency depreciated by 7.62 centavos, equivalent to a 0.39% loss.