NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The dollar fell against the euro and the yen on Monday after a report showed that manufacturing jumped in December, increasing the appeal of higher risk investments.
The Institute for Supply Management's key index of U.S. manufacturing rose to 55.9 in December, the highest level since April 2006. Manufacturing activity is considered a gauge of overall economic strength.
"The manufacturing report in the U.S. was so strong that risk appetite is really the theme of the day," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at Global Forex Trading. "The market is trading on risk appetite and that's negative for the dollar, because the dollar is being used as the funding currency."
Going into the week, the dollar may recover if unemployment reports are positive, Lien said.
Payroll services firm ADP will release employment data on Wednesday morning, leading up to the government's report on the unemployment rate that comes out on Friday.
Economists are expecting that ADP will report private-sector employment dropped by 75,000 in December, down from the 169,000 jobs that were cut in November, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com.
They are also anticipating that the unemployment rate will have climbed to 10.1% in December from 10% in November.
Looking ahead, Lien said she expects to see the dollar rally in January.
"At the beginning of the year you tend to have traders initiating new positions and starting fresh for the year" she said. "This usually involves exposure to U.S. equity and bonds, which means demand for U.S. dollars."
The dollar fell 0.2% against the euro to $1.441 on Monday and dropped 0.5% versus the yen to ¥92.53. The greenback was up 0.7% against the British pound at $1.609.
The buck was mixed against rivals last week as trading thinned during the holiday-shortened week. 
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.89% | 3.88% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 3.21% | 3.21% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.87% | 2.88% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.96% | 3.96% | |
| 15 yr refi | 3.30% | 3.29% |
Today's featured rates:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,801.23 | -89.23 | -0.69% |
| Nasdaq | 2,903.88 | -23.35 | -0.80% |
| S&P 500 | 1,342.64 | -9.31 | -0.69% |
| Treasuries | 1.97 | -0.08 | -3.81% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 8.07 | -0.11 | -1.34% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 19.90 | -0.10 | -0.52% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.44 | -0.25 | -1.97% |
| General Electric Co | 18.88 | -0.26 | -1.33% |
| Microsoft Corp | 30.50 | -0.28 | -0.89% |
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