Friday’s NFP – Good Is The Enemy Of Great

On Friday, US job growth indicated a good path to fuller employment as the NFP came at 227,000 jobs. The bad news though was that unemployment rose to 4.8% from 4.7% while wages declined. The latter fact, puts less pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates sooner, hence the probabilities of a May hike dropped to 45% while a 75% chance exists for June.

The dollar weakened initially, on the back of the 2 negatives stemming from the NFP, but quickly stabilized continuing last week’s ranging mode. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was flat at 99.69.

Gold rose from $1219 to $1225 amid the Dollar weakness. However, it fell slightly in the mid-Asian session after risk sentiment improved somewhat. Most Asian stock indices finished the day with a gain.

Oil prices edged up after the United States imposed sanctions on some Iranian individuals and entities. U.S. crude futures added 17 cents to $54.00 per barrel, while Brent gained 18 cents to $56.99 a barrel having rallied 2 percent last week.

Stocks were higher on Friday, a momentum that carried on this morning in Asia, as Trump’s administration commented on the need to de-regulate the financial sector.