USD support continues after Friday’s strong data Support - TopicsExpress

USD support continues after Friday’s strong data Support continues to pile into the USD this morning, as this currency continues to enjoy the effect of much stronger than expected Change in nonfarm payrolls released last Friday. The US economy experienced the creation of 321K jobs throughout the month of November, significantly rising from the previous reading of 243K (which was also revised higher from 214K) and beating the expected 230K by a good margin. Unemployment rate for the same period remained steady at 5.8% - this NFP reading was the last one expected to be announced within the current year. The US dollar index rose to 89.33, levels we had not seen since 2006, and was up to 7-year highs of 121.68 against the JPY and at 1.2271 against the euro. This morning the USD is up +0.28% against its major peers. Ahead of the European session, data out of China showed that November Trade Balance improved as exports eased but remained in the positive while imports contracted, both figures disappointed expectations. The Aussie and NZD slipped on the back of their close ties with China. Japan also reported its final 3Q reading which was out at -0.9% for the Q/Q period while the annualized figure was as bad as -1.9%. Nevertheless the JPY was in the green this morning recovering some of last week’s losses.