The US dollar makes big gains against other currencies, in the wake of the Non-Farm Payrolls figures. The big surprise in NFP shut off the risk factor, and sent the dollar rallying across the board. Yes, even against the Yen!
Non-Farm Payrolls were far better than expected, showing a loss of only 345K jobs instead of 520K that was expected. Unemployment rate went up more than expected – 9.4% instead of 9.2%. Confused? So is everybody else.
Employment is a late adaptor in economic recovery. American housing is well off the bottom, for some time already. Now it’s the turn of the job market. The general notion is that also the job market is off the bottom despite the rising unemployment rate.
For a change, the risk factor went to sleep. EUR/USD is under 1.40, GBP/USD is under 1.60, USD/CAD is at its highest this week, and the dollar also made big gains against the Japanese Yen. The correlation between the Dollar and the Yen has been broken today. The dollar swept everybody.
Quick overview of the currencies I highlighted this week
The British Pound was the biggest mover this week. It reached the major point of 1.6660, which is probably an unlucky number. IT got there too fast, and fell quite fast.
AUD/USD, one of my favorite pairs, managed to hold tight above the water – above the 0.80 mark. The Australian currency is back by a very strong economy. It’s too strong to be blown away like the Pound, the Euro, and the ailing Japanese economy.
In Canada, the bad employment figures also contributed to the fall of the loonie. Canadian unemployment rate is doing bad – it’s up to 8.4%, worse than expected. The job gains that were made last month were totally erased. Like the Pound, also the Canadian dollar bounced off a major resistance line, and it couldn’t hold.
Here are the original posts:
Loonie At Parity? Canadian Dollar Outlook
Will Australia go Down Under? Aussie Outlook
I’ll rest and take a deeper look at this week and the week ahead.
Enjoy the weekend!
