The EUR/USD currency pair today rallied to new highs during the American session after the release of disappointing non-farm payroll data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The pair’s rally was also influenced by other labor market reports such as the change in manufacturing payrolls, and the weak average hourly earnings.
The currency pair gained over 70 points in a span of an hour after the release of the non-farm payroll report.
The euro gained against the US dollar given that the change in non-farm payroll data numbers was recorded at 138,000 versus the expected 182,000 and the previous 174,000. The non-farm payroll data also disappointed as it came in at 147,000 as compared to the expected 175,000. The manufacturing sector shed at least 1,000 jobs going against the market expectation of an additional 5,000 jobs. The non-farm payroll datas also disappointed as earnings increased by 2.5% instead of the market consensus of 2.6%.
The US dollar was trading at an all-time low as tracked by the US Dollar Index, which was trading around 96.60 to 96.70 after the release of the report. The lower non-farm payroll data, which exceeded expectations by coming in at 4.3% instead of the expected 4.4%, could not salvage the greenback.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by the release of the US factory orders and durable goods orders, both scheduled for Monday.
The EUR/USD was trading at 1.1275 as at 15:15 GMT having risen from a low of 1.1202 prior to the release. The GBP/USD was trading at 1.1288 having risen from a low of 1.2843 earlier today.
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