The US dollar ends last week on a high – will it be able to hold on?

Following on from Thursday’s strength, Friday was another significant day for the US dollar. The American currency pushed two cents higher against its competitors thanks to dramatically better than expected non-farm payroll data; this came out at 271,000 jobs added compared to the market projection of 180,000. This created the best-selling opportunity since April 2015, and positive sentiment here may well add to the anticipation over a possible US rate hike – which could be introduced as early as December 2015.

A much quieter week expected to follow with little US data out throughout the course of the week, aside from the release of US retail sales data on Friday which are expected to show a slight improvement.