Dollar slides as European data signals recovery

The dollar slipped in morning trading in New York Wednesday after several reports from Europe suggested a strengthening economy in the 16 nations using the euro.

Meanwhile, a payroll company's report on U.S. private-sector jobs showed the labor market still shrinking. In the U.S. Wednesday, payrolls company Automatic Data Processing said private employers cut 23,000 jobs in March. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the report would show employers added 40,000 jobs. ADP's disappointing report comes before the release of the Labor Department's employment data Friday. Economists are still forecasting an uptick in employment -- 190,000 job gains in March, thanks in part to the federal government adding temporary jobs for the U.S. Census. Economists expect the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent this month.

Better economic data came from Europe. Germany said Wednesday its unemployment rate dipped to 8.5 percent this month from 8.7 percent in February -- although unemployment rose to 10 percent from 9.9 percent in the 16 countries using the euro. Germany is Europe's biggest economy.

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