If you haven’t gotten enough of this week’s top-tier reports and announcements then you gotta look at the U.S. non-farm payrolls release!
The U.S. NFP, unemployment rate, and average hourly earnings numbers will be printed today at 1:30 pm GMT.
Markets expect Uncle Sam to add a net of 193K jobs in January. This is slower than December’s 223K increase, and may be enough to push the unemployment rate higher from 3.5% to 3.6%.
U.S. Dollar Index (DXY): 4-Hour
In his presser earlier this week, Fed Chairman Powell shared that it’s “a good thing the disinflation we have seen so far has not come at the expense of a weaker labor market.”
If today’s numbers reflect a stronger-than-expected labor market, then the Fed will have to worry about persistently high or even higher inflation.
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which hit multi-month lows below 110.00 earlier this week, could extend its mid-week upswing.
DXY may retest its 102.60 range resistance seen on the 4-hour chart before Stochastic hits overbought territory and the dollar sees sustained selling pressure.
But if today’s reports point to only a slight weakening in the labor market, then the Fed will have fewer reasons to go back to its aggressively hawkish plans.
DXY could get rejected at the mid-range levels near the 100 SMA and bounce lower from its current prices near the 61.8% Fiboancci retracement.
Not sure which USD pair you should trade today? Take a look at USD’s performance against its major counterparts to see if you can take advantage of existing trends!
