Forex news for NY trading on aApril 3, 2020
- US major indices close lower but off the low levels for the day
- CFTC commitments of traders: EUR longs continue to grow.
- Pres. Trump scheduled to meet with oil executives
- Fed plans to buy $200 billion of treasury securities next week
- US crude oil futures settle at $28.34
- French virus deaths jump to 6507 with nursing homes included
- Baker Hughes oil rig count 562 versus 624 last week
- CDC US numbers show 239,279 cases vs 213,144 yesterday
- Italy virus deaths rise to 14,681 from 13,915
- JPMorgan's March global services PMI falls to 37.0 from 47.1
- European equity close: Lower with Italy lagging
- New York reports coronavirus cases to 102,863 from 92,381
- Canada coronavirus cases rise to 11,747 from 10,132
- Kudlow: Trump told Russia and Saudis to stop colluding and oversupplying the world with oil
- Germany mulls EU300B loan guarantee program for small companies
- ISM March US non-manufacturing index 52.5 vs 43.0 expected
- US Markit final March services PMI 39.8 vs 38.5 expected
- Larry Kudlow on Bloomberg: Banks are ready to go on small business loans
- Pelosi on CNBC: We need a 4th bill bipartisan aid bill
- IEA says 10 mbpd cut not enough, RIA says OPEC meeting next week may not happen
- UK coronavirus deaths rise to 3605 vs 2921 yesterday
- US March non-farm payrolls -701K vs -100K expected
- The ISM non-manufacturing report will be more interesting than non-farm payrolls
- The USD is the strongest and the AUD is the weakest as the NA session begins
- Russian producers ready for oil output cuts if US and Saudi also join in - report
The US employment report for March was released today and despite expectations that the survey occurred before the start of the coronavirus layoffs, a hefty -701K decline (estimate -100 K) was recorded. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 3.5% (above the 3.8% estimate). The average workweek fell to 34.2 from 34.4 last month.
Leisure and hospitality led the decline with a loss of 459,000. Healthcare and social assistance fell by 61,000. Professional and business services fell by 52,000. Retail fell by 46,000, construction jobs fell by 29,000 and manufacturing jobs fell by 18,000.
The decline in jobs was the 1st in a decade, but despite how bad -701K was in relation to the-100K estimate, next month's numbers will dwarf these numbers as the full impact of the shuttering of major US cities across the country will be felt.
Despite the sharp fall the US dollar is ending the day is the strongest of the major currencies. The AUD is the weakest. The dollar tried to move lower initially after the headlines, but recovered and moved higher into the New York afternoon. A late day move lower in the greenback reduced some of the gains.
For the trading week, the USD was also the strongest of the majors, with the EUR and NZD as the weakest of the majors. Below is the ranking of the major currencies.
The job declines did helped to weaken the US stock market as well as continued fears of escalation of the coronavirus over the weekend. Each of the major indices were down by about -2.6% at the session lows. However a last hour rally took the price is higher and lessons some of the damage for the day. Nevertheless the indices closed down -1.5% to -1.7%. Indices were also down for the week with the Dow falling by -2.7%, the S&P down -2.08% and the NASDAQ index -1.72%.
In the US debt market today, the yields are mixed with the 5 and 10 year up about 1 basis point, while the 30 year fell by -2.0 basis points. The 2 year yield was unchanged:
In other markets today:
- Spot gold rose $6.73 or 0.4% to $1620.36
- WTI crude oil futures rose sharply for the 2nd day in a row. Yesterday prices rose by close 25%. Near the close the price of WTI crude oil futures are currently up around 14.20% at $28.89.
Wishing everybody a good weekend. Stay safe.
