North American Summary and Highlights 7 June
Overview - The USD saw strong and broad based gains on a stronger than expected US non-farm payroll increase.
North American session
The USD fell sharply on a strong 272k rise in the US non-farm payroll, coupled with a 0.4% increase in average hourly earnings, despite unemployment moving up to 4.0% from 3.9% as the Household Survey sharply underperformed the payroll. USD/JPY bounced from near 155.50 to trade above 157 before a modest correction lower, but most pairs saw the USD finish near the highs. EUR/USD tested 1.08 after trading near 1.09 before the US data. EUR/GBP fell to .8490 from .8510 as GBP/USD slippage failed to threaten 1.27.
Canada’s employment report was in line with expectations with a 26.7k increase and a rise in unemployment to 6.2% from 6.1%, but did show an unexpected acceleration in wages. USD/CAD bounced above 1.37 on the data releases and extended gains to 1.3750 but AUD/CAD was weaker as AUD/USD fell clearly below .66.
European morning session
The USD was sideways in Europe, with the approach of the U.S. employment report being key. There was a dip in USD/JPY as low as 155.12 but this was mostly corrected, while AUD and CAD were slightly weaker. EUR/USD had no clear direction but EUR/GBP was slightly weaker, if still holding above .85.