USD Strengthened Following US Labour Department Jobs Report - APAC Update

Xe Corporate APAC

7. April 2019 — 3 min read

The AUDUSD opened at 0.7105 (mid-rate) and the NZDUSD opened at 0.6735 (mid-rate) this morning.

The AUD continued to trade choppy ranges on Friday as investors waited for the latest US employment report.

The NZD continued to trade choppy ranges with a downside bias, against all its rivals on Friday with a growing belief that the RBNZ will cut interest rates at its May monetary policy meeting, weighing on confidence in the NZD.

Global Update

The USD strengthened on Friday after the US Labour Department jobs report showed a reacceleration in jobs growth in March.

The report showed non-farm payroll employment jumped by 196,000 in march with February’s previously reported 20k jobs increase upwardly revised to 33,000. Economists had forecast jobs to increase by 180k during the month. As expected unemployment remained at 3.8% but a slowing in wage growth to 3.2% from 3.4% is a concern.

On Friday, President Trump again called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and take additional steps to stimulate economic growth. He once again criticized the Fed’s interest rate increases over the past 12 months saying “they really slowed us down.” The comments come hot on the heels of Trump’s controversial picks for the board of the federal Reserve. Earlier in the week Trump nominated Trumponomics author Stephen Moore, and former Republican presidential candidate and avowed Trump loyalist Herman Cain to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

Global equity markets continue to benefit from upbeat trade talk headlines with Chinese Vice Premier Liu announcing “new progress” had been made in trade talks with both parties agreeing to resume discussions this week.

Thursday evening’s Euro-zone monetary policy statement, along with US inflation data and FOMC meeting minutes will be the main market drivers over the course of the week.

Global equity markets closed out the week broadly higher, - Dow +0.15%, S&P 500 +0.46%, FTSE +0.61%, DAX +0.18%, CAC +0.23%, Nikkei +0.38%, Shanghai +0.94%.

Gold prices were unchanged on Friday closing out the week at $1,291 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices increased 1.6% on Friday closing out the week at $63.15 a barrel.
AUDUSD0.7105-0.2%NZDUSD0.6735-0.3%AUDEUR0.6335-0.1%NZDEUR0.5999-0.3%AUDGBP0.54450.0%NZDGBP0.5159-0.2%AUDJPY79.35-0.1%NZDJPY75.21-0.2%AUDNZD1.05410.0%NZDAUD0.9482-0.1%GBPAUD1.8365-0.0%NZDCAD0.9013-0.1% GBPNZD1.93840.2%
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