The Mexican peso depreciated on Friday morning to trade at close to 19 to the US dollar, a weakening of more than 2% compared to its position a week ago.
After closing at 18.87 to the dollar on Thursday, the peso fell to as low as 18.98 to the greenback early Friday.
At 11:15 a.m. Mexico City time, the USD:MXN exchange rate was 18.94, according to Bloomberg.
The depreciation of the peso in early trading on Friday came after the publication of weaker-than-expected employment data in the United States.
Data showing that non-farm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 73,000 jobs in July — well below the 110,000 jobs economists polled by Reuters had predicted — raised expectations that the United States Federal Reserve will cut its federal funds rate in September.
In Mexico, the Bank of Mexico published data on Friday that showed that incoming remittances declined 16.2% annually in June to US $5.2 billion.
At 18.94 to the dollar at 11:15 a.m., the peso was around 2.2% weaker than its closing position on July 23, a day on which Mexico’s currency reached 18.53 to the greenback, its strongest position of 2025.
The 18.98 rate to which the peso depreciated early Friday represented a 2.3% depreciation for the currency compared to its closing position of 18.54 to the dollar last Friday.
As the peso lost ground against the dollar early Friday, the greenback depreciated against a basket of six major foreign currencies, as shown in a decline of the U.S. Dollar Index.
A bad week for the peso
The peso depreciated on Monday to close at 18.76 to the dollar before appreciating slightly on Tuesday to end the day at 18.75, according to the Bank of Mexico.
On Wednesday, the peso declined to 18.85 to the greenback. It fell again on Thursday to close at 18.87.
The depreciation on Thursday and Friday morning occurred despite President Claudia Sheinbaum reaching a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday that allowed Mexico to avoid the implementation of a 30% tariff that was scheduled to take effect today.
The peso depreciated in July, ending a 6-month streak of gains
The peso depreciated 0.6% in July, according to Bank of Mexico data.
Its closing position at the end of the month — 18.87 — was 11 centavos above the 18.76 USD:MXN rate at the end of June.
The depreciation in July came after a six-month streak of gains for the peso.
Here are the Bank of Mexico closing USD:MXN rates for the final trading day of every month since December.
- December 31: 20.88
- January 31: 20.69 (peso appreciated 0.9% in one month)
- February 28: 20.58 (peso appreciated 0.5%)
- March 31: 20.46 (peso appreciated 0.6%)
- April 30: 19.61 (peso appreciated 4.3%)
- May 30: 19.39 (peso appreciated 1.1%)
- June 30: 18.76 (peso appreciated 3.3%)
- July 31: 18.87 (peso depreciated 0.6%)
Even with the depreciation of the peso to above 18.90 to the dollar on Friday morning, Mexico’s currency has gained more than 10% against the greenback this year.
The peso, however, is significantly weaker than its strongest position of 2024, which was 16.30 to the greenback on April 8 of last year.
With reports from El Financiero and Excélsior
