March 2021 non-farm payrolls highlights
This report lands on Good Friday into a thin market and we saw some quick pops in the US dollar but not as large as you would expect. The unemployment rate was in line with estimates but given the uptick in the participation rate, that’s good news.

The USD is mixed
The snapshot of the strongest to weakest ahead of the US jobs report is showing the NZD is the strongest, the CAD is the weakest. The USD is right in the middle with nearly equal gains vs losses vs the major indices. The USD is highest vs the CAD (at +0.14%) and

European markets will be closed on next Monday as well
It will also be a holiday in Australia, New Zealand, and China so expect the Asian and European trading sessions to be extremely quiet with liquidity conditions severely impacted.

All quiet in Europe amid the Easter holiday
It is Good Friday today and most European markets are observing a holiday, with FX being the only notable market open ahead of the weekend.

Three reasons for GBP strength in April
1. Pent up savings
The UK ended its stay at home order on Monday this week. With 50% of the adult population now being vaccinated, COVID-19 infections falling, and expectations of more easing of COVID-19 containment measures the stage is set for some of the pent up savings to be

Yeah, I know, the holiday Friday, 2 April 2021, is NFP day … and the US Labour Dept is not taking the day off from releasing it!
Due at 1230GMT  
Earlier:

The People’s Bank of China set the onshore yuan reference rate for the trading session ahead. 
– The previous close was 6.5655
– Reuters estimate from their survey was 6.5627, Bloomberg 6.5652 …. (A rate that’s significantly stronger or weaker than expected is typically considered a signal from the PBOC.) 

Forex news from the European trading session – 1 April 2021
Headlines:
Markets:
– EUR leads, AUD lags on the day
– European equities higher; E-minis up 0.3%

Latest data released by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas Inc
The drop in job cuts here is the lowest monthly total since July 2018 so there are some signs that layoffs are slowing down and that US-based employers are able to get back on their feet again – job cuts led by the aerospace/defense industry so far this

But the bloc is also considering maintaining current production cuts as well
This isn’t too different from the earlier story but it reaffirms that there are still a bit of two-way risks going into the meeting today. The past half-hour has seen oil pare most of its earlier gains as WTI falls from $60.10 to