Summary:
- Strong NFP beat but drop in wages create sweet spot to send stocks soaring
- Canadian dollar rises despite soft jobs data
- NOK gains as CPI climbs above target
- Bitcoin keeps falling harsh SEC and Twitter remarks
What on the face of it could be described as a mixed report for the US has seen a clear market reaction for stocks with the US500 surging higher. The headline NFP employment change smashed expectations of a 205k print, coming in at 313k – the highest since the February 2015 release. What is more the previous reading was revised higher by 39k to 239k from 200k.
Whilst the Lion’s share of attention was on the US jobs report, the Canadian one produced some interesting developments with a smaller than expected return to growth, although the composition of the jobs added were weak. The market reaction was slightly positive considering, with the Canadian dollar currently edging higher on the day. Two pairs that could be interesting to keep an eye on going forward are the USDCAD and EURCAD.
Norway’s inflation unexpectedly accelerated in February coming in above the inflation aim being revised down a week ago. It could prompt the central bank to bring forward its current rate rise estimate from December possibly even to September. As a result, the local currency has gained a foothold and is looking set to post a good day of gains.
Bitcoin is continuing to fall following the harsh statement from the US Securities Exchange Commission we wrote about yesterday. Let us remind that the SEC announced that all digital assets trading platforms will have to register with the federal agency. Furthermore, Twitter added fuel to the flames reporting that it’s taking measures aimed at preventing cryptocurrency-related accounts from running scams on its platform.