Breaking: Nonfarm Payrolls plummeted by 701K in March

Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in the US declined by 701,000 in March, the data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday. This reading followed February's increase of 275,000 (revised from 273,000) and missed the market expectation of -100,000 by a wide margin.

Further details of the publication revealed that the Unemployment Rate in March surged to 4.4% from 3.5% and came in worse than analysts' estimate of 3.8%. Moreover, the Labor Force Participation Rate in March fell to 62.7% from 63.4% and the Average Hourly Earnings increased by 0.4%.

Follow our live coverage of the NFP report and the market reaction.

"This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours and earnings by industry," the BLS explained in its press release. "The March survey reference periods for both surveys predated many coronavirus-related business and school closures that occurred in the second half of the month."

Market reaction

With the initial market reaction, the US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of six major currencies, advanced to 100.80, where it was up 0.68% on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, US stock index futures extended the losses after this data. As of writing, the S&P 500 futures were down 0.35% on the day.

US Treasury bond yields' reaction to the data was relatively muted with the 10-year reference erasing around 3% near 0.59%.

NFP Quick Analysis: 701K jobs lost only be tip of the iceberg, why King Dollar is ready for coronation.

"Like a hurricane hitting the whole country" – one of the reactions to the Non-Farm Payrolls report that showed a loss of 701,000 jobs, seven times worse than expected. The unemployment rate jumped from 3.5% to 4.4%, also worse than expected. It is the worst report since March 2009.

US NFP Quick Analysis: A grim future partially foretold.

American non-farm payrolls shed 701,000 jobs in March, more that the worst loss during the financial crisis and surprising markets with the Labor Department’s ability to capture the rapid job losses. Economists had predicted just 100,000 firings, expecting the full accounting to be delayed until April as the US slows drastically from the economic impact of the Coronavirus.

Gold remains confined in a range, moves little post-NFP.

Gold extended its sideways consolidative price action around the $1615 region and had a rather muted reaction to the US monthly employment details

USD/JPY New York Price Forecast: US dollar remains supported vs. yen, NFP non-event.

USD/JPY is stabilizing near the 108.00 handle while challenging the 200 SMA on the daily chart. US Nonfarm Payrolls plummeted by 701K in March however the news was no news and it was essentially a non-event.

EUR/USD apathetic around 1.0800 post-NFP.

The selling interest around the single currency remains well and sound, with EUR/USD hovering around the 1.0800 neighbourhood in the wake of the US labour market report.

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