Breaking: Non-Farm Payrolls beat with 196K but wages only 0.1% MoM , USD ticks down

Yohay Elam FXStreet

The US economy gained 196K jobs in March, slightly better than expected. February was revised up to 33K from only 20K expected. However, wages are up 0.1% MoM and 3.2% YoY.

The unemployment rate is at 3.8% with a drop in participation down to 63%. Private payrolls are up 182K, better than the ADP number that stood at 129K. The U-6 Underemployment Rate is unchanged at 7.3%. The net revision for the past two months is an increase of 14K.

The USD reacted in a choppy manner on the mixed data but is generally on the back foot. Markets see this as a "Goldilocks" report: not too hot, not too cold.

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EUR/USD jumped towards 1.1250, GBP/USD is up from the lows towards 1.3100. USD/JPY is around 111.60.

EUR/USD chart:

EURUSD technical chart NFP reaction April 5 2019

The US was expected to report an increase of 180K positions in March after a meager increase of only 20K in February. Wages were projected to remain steady with an annual rise of 3.4% once again.

The disappointing data in February came after several outstanding months, and many believe it was a one-off event. However, with growing concerns about the economy and the risk of recession, the number is watched very closely. ADP reported a not-so-great increase of 129K private sector positions in March.

Author

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

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