USD

The US dollar staged a strong rally against its currency counterparts after the US NFP report came in stronger than expected. 

The economy added 295K jobs in February, bringing the jobless rate down from 5.7% to 5.5% for the month. Wage growth was weaker than expected at 0.1% versus the projected 0.2% increase and the previous 0.5% uptick. However, it seems that June rate hike speculations are back on the table now that the economy has reached full employment. For today, only the labor conditions index is up for release and another strong reading could mean more gains for the dollar.

EUR

The euro continued its tumble to the dollar and yen as risk aversion weighed on most currencies, except for the safe-havens. Medium-tier data from the euro zone came in mostly in line with expectations, although the French trade balance missed the mark. German trade balance and euro zone Sentix investor confidence are lined up for today, with another round of weaker than expected readings likely to weigh on the shared currency. Eurogroup meetings are also set to start today, as markets could tune in to updates on the Greek debt situation.

GBP

The pound was in a weak spot in Friday’s trading sessions, as there were no major reports to keep the currency afloat. There are still no reports lined up from the UK economy today, which suggests that the current trends might carry on and that the pound could be sensitive to risk flows.

CHF

The franc gapped down to the US dollar over the weekend, as Swiss CPI came in weaker than expected on Friday. Analysts expected a flat reading but saw a 0.3% decline instead. There are no reports lined up from the Swiss economy today, which means that the franc might be driven by risk sentiment.

JPY

The yen advanced against most of currency rivals as risk aversion stayed in the markets. Speculations of Fed tightening led to risk-off flows, favoring the lower-yielding yen. Earlier today, Japanese reports came in weaker than expected, as the current account surplus showed a 1.06 trillion JPY reading versus the projected 1.16 trillion JPY figure. The final GDP reading was also downgraded from 0.6% to 0.4%, lower than the projected 0.5% growth figure.

Commodity Currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD)

The comdolls suffered huge losses to the dollar as risk aversion kicked in last Friday, driven mostly by speculations of a Fed rate hike in June. Over the weekend, China printed a stronger than expected trade balance, helping keep further losses for the commodity currencies in check. No other reports are due from the comdoll economies today.

By Kate Curtis from Trader’s Way