- AUD/USD extended its daily slide during the European session.
- US Dollar Index preserves its bullish momentum on Friday.
- Nonfarm Payrolls in US is expected to rise by 182K in February.
After closing the previous two trading days in the negative territory, the AUD/USD pair continued to edge lower on Friday and touched its lowest level in nearly a month at 0.7653. As of writing, the pair was down 0.7% on the day at 0.7670.
DXY holds near 92.00 ahead of NFP
The unabated USD strength continues to dominate AUD/USD’s movements ahead of the weekend. On Thursday, FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell triggered an impressive upsurge in the US Dollar Index (DXY) as he refrained from voicing concerns over rising Treasury bond yields. With the 10-year US T-bond yield gaining more than 5%, the DXY rose 0.75% and stretched to its highest level since early December at 92.03. At the moment, the index is up 0.35% at 91.95.
Earlier in the day, the data from Australia showed that the AiG Performance of Services Index improved to 55.8 in February from 54.3 in January but failed to help the AUD find demand.
Later in the session, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the February labour market report. Markets expect Nonfarm Payrolls to increase by 182,000 following January’s disappointing reading of +49,000.
Previewing the jobs report, “the US dollar and Treasury yields have rebounded from their lows, but await confirmation that the economy has launched into the New Year orbit,” said FXStreet senior analyst Joseph Trevisani. “Nonfarm Payrolls could belie forecasts and resume strong growth in February and markets will respond if it does. But in the long run it will not matter for expansion lies ahead.”
US Nonfarm Payrolls February Preview: The inflection point.
Technical levels to watch for
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