US Employment data indicate that employment rose in December

　　

U.S. equities scored their best trading day of the year throughout last Friday’s trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.13% to close at 33630.61. The S&P 500 gained 2.28% to close at 3895.08. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.56% to close at 10569.29. U.S. equities rose after the U.S. nonfarm payrolls and unemployment change data both indicated higher employment during the previous month.

The nonfarm payrolls came in at 223K, while the monthly unemployment change came in at 3.5%. Furthermore, the ISM PMI figure came in below market expectations at 49.6, indicating a slowdown in private-sector purchasing. Market participants assumed that the higher employment and falling private sector purchasing would prompt the Fed to throttle back on interest rate controls, thus equities rallied while treasury yields and the Greenback retreated.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year treasury yield was last seen trading at 3.56%, while the 2-year yield sits at 4.258%.

On the economic docket, Fed chairman Jerome Powell is due to speak during the American trading session on the 10^th. The U.S. will release core CPI and initial jobless claims figures on the 12^th, and the U.K. will release GDP and manufacturing figures on the 13^th.

Main Pairs Movement

The Dollar index, which tracks the U.S. Greenback against a basket of major foreign currencies, slumped 1.18% throughout Friday. Market participants sold the Greenback after the “Fed desired” U.S. economic data released throughout Friday’s American trading session. Retreating U.S. yields acted as a headwind for the falling Dollar.

EURUSD jumped 1.12% throughout Friday’s trading. The Dollar weakness across markets allowed Euro bulls to bid the Euro higher and allowed the pair to reverse a four-day loss.

GBPUSD soared 1.54% throughout Friday’s trading. While there were no major economic data releases from the U.K., the lower-than-expected U.S. PMI data sparked a selloff of the Dollar.

Gold climbed 1.82% throughout Friday’s trading. The Dollar denominated Gold soared after a broad-based selloff of the U.S. Greenback.