The US gained more private jobs than expected, according to ADP: 220K in the private sector, a strong number. Automatic Data Processing was expected to report a gain of 203K private sector jobs in April after 209K in March (revised up from 191K originally reported). Last month, there was a strong correlation between the ADP and the private sector component of the official Non-Farm Payrolls. April is the first full “clean†month – there were no adverse weather storms during this month. This lifts expectations for the NFP on Friday.
Before the publication, EUR/USD was on the move higher to 1.3844, GBP/USD at 1.6820 and USD/JPY 102.50. The US dollar is marginally higher, especially against the yen, as another top tier figure is coming up.
Update: GDP badly disappoints with only +0.1%.
Manufacturing and construction both add jobs. Professional and business services make big gains.
In a very short while, an even more important figure is coming out of the US: the first release of GDP for the first quarter of 2014. It is expected to slide down to 1.2% (annualized). Also Canada releases GDP data at the same time.
Earlier, the euro enjoyed the rise in inflation from the low levels, even if it remains low.
And, the last but surely not least event of the day is the FOMC meeting. Follow a live coverage of the event from 17:45 here.
