U.S. Markets Rally On Strong NFP

In what has been a challenging week for U.S. stocks, today’s Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report has brought optimism in droves. At the halfway point of the Wall Street session, the DJIA DOW (+350), S&P 500 SPX (+31), and NASDAQ (+89) are all posting intraday bullish trends. The gains are being largely attributed to NFP and a strong collection of American economic metrics that came out during the pre-market hours.

U.S. NFP And Unemployment Show Strength

The U.S. labor market is holding firm, as it has for the majority of the past two years. Here is a look at the jobs report from earlier today:

Event                                                             Actual      Projected      Previous

Average Hourly Earnings (YoY, Nov.)       3.1%              3.0%                3.2%

Non-Farm Payrolls (Nov.)                           266K             180K                156K

Unemployment Rate (Nov.)                       3.5%              3.6%                 3.6%

To sum up, Unemployment pulled back modestly and 266,000 new jobs were created in November. These are positive numbers and are likely to get better as seasonal holiday employment spikes during December.

In addition to the jobs numbers, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Dec.) came in at 99.2. The figure is above both expectations (97.0) and the previous release (96.8). Once again, this is a positive reading and one that is certainly contributing to the intraday strength in U.S. stocks.

All in all, the robust NFP numbers were the premier catalyst for a bullish morning on Wall Street. Conversely, safe-havens are under pressure, as evidenced by gains in the USD/CHF.

USD/CHF On The Rally

Bidders have slammed the USD/CHF today, driving rates back above 0.9900. Now, several daily resistance areas are on the immediate horizon.

Here are the levels to watch for the Swissy as we roll into the late session:

• Resistance(1): 38% Retracement, 0.9919
• Resistance(2): Bollinger MP, 0.9929

Overview: Until we see rates take out the daily 38% Fibonacci retracement at 0.9919, a near-term bearish bias remains warranted. Earlier, the USD/CHF rallied to 0.9917, a near-miss of a short entry point (0.9919) outlined in a Live Market Update from yesterday. Barring a late-day rally, we are likely to see the Swissy settle the week in the neighborhood of 0.9900.