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USD bouncing back

• Shaky sentiment. A bit of a rebound in risk sentiment overnight following more turbulence on Friday after the US jobs report & Fed comments.• Market swings. US yields near bottom of their range. USD has recovered some ground, while the NZD & AUD have lost altitude.• Event radar. US Pres. debate (Weds), US CPI (Weds), & ECB meeting (Thurs) in focus this week. Will the USD’s revival continue? Markets have enjoyed a relatively more positive start to the week as the dust settled following Friday nights US jobs report and comments by Fed officials which generated further turbulence. From...

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Mean Reversion Dominates Markets After Inconclusive Jobs Report

Friday’s non-farm payrolls report failed to definitively settle the debate over the size of the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut. Markets initially added to bets on a plus-sized move after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a slower-than-anticipated pace of job creation through July and August, but soon reversed on evidence of underlying stability in labour markets – the unemployment rate edged lower, the prime age employment rate remained historically high, and growth in average hourly earnings showed signs of accelerating. A widely-anticipated speech from Governor Waller didn’t clarify things much either. Odds on a half-percentage-point move shot up as...

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Dollar Edges Lower Into Payrolls

The dollar is trading near a one-week low as the minutes count down to what could easily become the year’s most pivotal data release: the August non-farm payrolls report. With investors broadly convinced that the data will improve, but nonetheless set the stage for at least one jumbo-sized rate cut from the Federal Reserve this autumn, the greenback is slipping against its major rivals, especially the yen, while Treasury yields are edging lower, and stock futures are coming under pressure. Consensus estimates suggest that the US added 165,000 new jobs in August, up from the 114,000 reported in July, but...

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US payrolls in focus

• Hold the line. US S&P500 dipped, as did US yields & the USD. US ADP employment underwhelmed. But this hasn’t been a great guide for payrolls.• US employment. Non-farm payrolls tonight. USD (& AUD) reaction likely to be binary. Stronger (weaker) data could be USD positive (negative).• RBA rhetoric. Gov. Bullock held firm. Level of demand & inflation still high. Rate cuts look some time away. Policy divergence AUD supportive. Recent market trends generally extended overnight, although the size of the moves has been more limited. The US S&P500 (-0.3%) slipped back for the third straight day, something which...

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Rate expectations jolted

• Mixed markets. Equities slipped again, while bond yields tumbled & the USD softened. JPY strengthened & the AUD clawed back a bit of ground.• US jolts. US job openings declined. US labour market is rebalancing. Fed rate cuts are coming. Non-farm payrolls will make or break the case for 50bps.• AU GDP. Weak growth in Q2, but the level of activity remains high. RBA Gov. Bullock speaks today on “the costs of high inflation”. A mixed performance across markets with some of the moves from the previous day extending while others, particularly in FX, partially unwound. European and US...

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