US Employment, NFPs, US Dollar, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 – Talking Points
- US adds 455k jobs in March (450k est., 486k prev.)
- US Dollar[1], Nasdaq[2] 100, S&P 500[3] all weaker ahead of NY open
The US private sector added 455,000 jobs in March, beating street expectations of 450,000. The largest gains came in the hospitality and leisure sectors, which added 161,000 jobs collectively. March’s print comes in below the revised February figure of 486k, but the US added a total of 1.4 million jobs in the first quarter. Eyes will now begin to shift to Friday’s nonfarm payroll (NFP[4]) release, which is expected to show the creation of 480,000 new jobs.
The report highlighted that current labor market tightness continues to hamper the ability to recover from early pandemic losses. While businesses continue to hire, there is still plenty of ground to recover from 2020. The tight labor market is being watched closely by Federal Reserve officials as wages and prices continue to push higher.
US Dollar 2 Hour Chart
Chart created with TradingView
Ahead of the opening bell in New York, the US Dollar was weaker along with major US equity benchmarks. Sentiment may be weak in the session, as the employment print was also accompanied by quarterly GDP data that missed expectations slightly. The US Dollar Index fell back below 98 to Fibonacci support, which is a scenario I mentioned in my piece yesterday[5].
S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also appear to be taking a slight breather, following the robust run higher over the last couple of weeks. 4,625 continues to cap S&P 500 futures, while the Nasdaq 100 appears to be penned in by 15,250. Today’s session could see
