There was plenty of high-impact data released last Friday, which had significant impact upon the Forex market.
The U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls number was expected to be disappointing, with a consensus estimate of 175,000 new jobs having been created following Thursday’s forecast of only 184,000. In fact, the real number came in significantly higher, at 222,000 new jobs created over the past month. This boosted the U.S. Dollar somewhat, especially against commodities, which are generally in long-term downwards trends. Any resulting optimism over the greenback was tempered by two additional data components: the results of average hourly earnings and the unemployment rate both came in below expectations, with average hourly earnings at +0.2% against an expected 0.2%, and the unemployment rate at 4.4% against an expected 4.3%. It seems that in certain key aspects, the U.S. economy is underperforming slightly, but not by enough to make a very large difference to perceptions and expectations.There was also a release of some key Canadian economic data that was more emphatic: 45,300 more workers were in employment, compared to an expected 11,400, and the unemployment rate came in at 6.6% against an expected 6.5%. This had the effect of boosting the Canadian Dollar everywhere against all currencies, including the U.S. Dollar, and increased the expectation that the Bank of Canada is likely to raise its interest rate next week.
G20 meetings were also held on Friday and Saturday, but these meetings did not produce any marketable economic headlines, with most attention being focused on a perceived U.S. relinquishing of its leadership role within the group. There will now be a dull period for at least a couple of days, until Wednesday, with no high-impact economic releases scheduled for either Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday, however, will see some important items concerning the U.S. and Canadian Dollars.