AUD is the strongest. USD is the weakest.
The AUD is the strongest currency in trading today. The employment numbers were out of this world strong.
The report lowered the expectations for a rate cut in May. The expectations for a cut are still 57% for May (according to Bloomberg). Nomura commented that they still expect a cut on the back of slower China and decreasing commodity prices. Barclay's commented that the number may have been impacted by seasonal adjustments and "unprecedented measurement and methodolical problems" and that the RBA still forecasts unemployment trends will be higher. Nevertheless, one of the the strongest currency pairs is the AUDUSD (+1.34%. The AUDCAD is the strongest at 1.36%).
If you missed it: the unemployment rate fell to 6.1% from a revised 6.2% (was 6.3%). Employment change added 37.7 K in March and February's jobs were revised higher to 42 K vs. 15.6 K. Full-time employment surged by 31.5 K this month. The prior month was revised to up 41.9 K from 10.3 K.
The weakest currency is the USD. Traders are getting impatient with the weaker US data. The housing starts for March will be released at 8:30 AM ET with expectations for an annualized sales pace of 1040K (was 897K in Feb). Building permits are expected to fall to 1081K from 1102K. The US weekly initial jobless claims are expected to remain steady at 280K vs. 281K, last week. Later at 10 AM Philadelphia business Outlook for April is expected to rise slightly to 6.0 from 5.0.
Feds Lockhart speaks at 1 PM on US economic Outlook
Feds Mester speaks on the economy and monetary policy in New York at 1:10 PM
Feds Fischer speaks on inflation panel at 3 PM along with ECB's Praet. Fischer will also be on CNBC at 10 AM (I believe).
