- US nonfarm payrolls fall 539,000, unemployment rate reaches 8.9%
- Canada adds 34,000 jobs, unemployment rate steady at 8.0
- Canadian housing starts tumble to 117,400 annual rate in April from 146,500 in March
- US wholesale inventories fall 1.6% in March
- 9 Japanese life insurance companies downgraded by Fitch
- Obama welcomes improved employment report but says still a long way to go
- Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo easily raise additional capital
- US’s Geithner: Jobs report encouraging; US to provide substantial support to GMAC
- Fed’s Lacker: Important to avoid the risks of waiting too long or moving too slowly to hike rates; economy to come out of recession this year.
- Chinese ambassador: Talk of new global currency a “scholarly exploration”, USD to remain reserve currency for some time, China will buy Treasuries as long as good investment
- US bond yields rise; 10-year not yields 3.29%
- US equities add to gains, up 2.0%
EUR/USD extended its rally after US payrolls fell within the range of expectations. Once the risk event was out of the way, investors were able to focus on the financial sector in the wake of the stres test. Wells and Morgan Stanley were able to easily raise about $15 bln between them in the capital markets today. EUR/USD overcame its 200-day moving average at 1.3461 and the 50% retracement of the 1.4871/1.2328 decline at 1.3600. It ends the session near its 1.3630 session high.
AUD/USD was not to be outdone. It rallied through 0.7700 during the NY afternoon as commodities added to gains.
Cable reversed all of yesterday’s losses and made a new high for the trend near 1.5250. Remarkable.
USD/CAD fell to 1.1492 after Canada unexpected added jobs in April.
