USD: Employment change comes in below expectations but still positive

The major release of the day was the unemployment change figures from the US in November. 190,000 new people were employed by private companies against an expectation of 205,000 but the number is still promising.

Meanwhile, mortgage applications increased by 4.7% in the week ending 1 December 2017. The previous period they had fallen by 3.1% so the turnaround is rather encouraging. The dollar won the day by strengthening against the euro and sterling, but it is fair to say that, along with sterling, it has been pretty volatile of late.

Today we will see the initial jobless claims which are expected to fall from 238,000 to 236,000. However, the big release of the week is the non farm payrolls which are set to come in tomorrow.

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