Today’s employment data from the United States was mixed as growth of nonfarm payrolls exceeded expectations, but the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose as well. The confusing indicators led to volatile movement of EUR/USD. Initially, the currency pair surged upwards, but it dropped later and currently continues to move down.
Nonfarm payrolls grew 175k in May, beating the expectations of 167k. It was a good part of the report, yet their were a bad part. Firstly, the previous month’s growth was revised down from 165k to 149k. Secondly, the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose by 0.1 percentage point to 7.6%. (Event A on the chart.)
Yesterday, a report on initial jobless claims was released, showing a decrease from 357k to 346k. The reading matched analysts’ forecasts. (Not shown on the chart.)
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