The Dollar appreciated against a basket of major currencies on Friday following news that the United States added another 164k jobs to its economy in the month of April.
Although the headline jobs number continues to highlight the underlying strength of the US jobs market and is also modestly better than March’s revised 135k figure, this is still below the 192k expectations. It wasn’t just the headline payrolls numbers that disappointed but also average hourly earnings which rose a tepid 0.1% M/M, below the 0.2% forecast. On the bright side, the unemployment rate dropped to a new record low of 3.9%. All in all, April’s uninspiring US jobs report is unlikely to derail the Federal Reserve from raising US interest rates in June.
Taking a look at the technical picture, the Dollar Index is heavily bullish on the daily charts. There have been consistently higher highs and higher lows while prices are trading above the 200 Day Simple Moving Average. Bulls remain supported above the 92.50 level with the next key level of interest at 93.00.