USD/JPY quickly recovers initial losses post-NFP

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

The USD/JPY pair came under renewed selling pressure as the Non-farm Payrolls data from the United States came in lower than expected. After spiking down to 110.15, the pair was able to recover the immediate losses. At the moment, the USD/JPY is down 0.14% at 110.66.

The pace of growth in the payroll figures slowed in March as the data revealed an increase of 98,000 following an increase of 219,000 in February. That number also came in lower than the median forecast of 180,000. The fact that a blizzard slammed the east coast of the United States during the payrolls survey week could have impacted the hiring tendency negatively. In the meantime, the unemployment rate fell to 4.5% from 4.7%. Most experts think that the lower unemployment despite the weak payroll numbers suggests that the labÄ±or market is getting back toÄ± a 'normal state.'

The US Dollar Index, having dropped to 100.40 right after the data, jumped back to daily highs in a quick manner as the underlying details of the data didn't seem as scary as they did at first. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from the previous month, and the average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours in March.

US: Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 98,000 in March

Technical outlook

111 (psychological level) remains as the first technical resistance for the pair ahead of 111.45 (Apr. 5 high) and 112.20 (Mar. 31 high). To the downside, supports could be found at 110.10 (Daily low/Mar. 27 low), 109.80 (Nov. 18 low) and 109 (psychological level).

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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