NFP Data: Payrolls Increase As Unemployment Rate Remains Unchanged.

The distortions from the hurricanes have begun fading away as the Nonfarm payrolls increased by 228,000 jobs for November.

November NFP data shows positivity in all areas.

Apart from the positive Nonfarm payrolls that increased, other data that were released were also positive. The average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% in November after it went down by 0.1% in October. This led to the annual wages increasing by 2.5% from the previous 2.3% that was recorded in October.

The data also showed that employees put in more hours in November. The average work hours per week was up to 34/5 hours, an increase to the 34.4 hours that was recorded back in October.

The unemployment rate remains unchanged. It still remained at a 17-year low of 4.1% even though there is an increase in the labor force. Economic analysts on Reuter had forecasted NFP for November to be 200,000, with the 228,000 recorded above expectations. The data recorded from November is the first clean one since the hurricanes.

October NFP revised downwards.

The government revised the data for the month of October, with the revision stating that the economy added 244,000 jobs, down from the previously recorded 261,000 hobs. The employment gains that was recorded in October was due to the return of work of thousands of workers after the storms.
The dollar reacts to the NFP.

The greenback traded lower against most of the major currencies after the NFP data was released. The pair of EUR/USD traded between 1.1730 and 1.1769 around after the data was released, while USD/JPY traded between 113.23 and 113.57 at the same time period.

What to do if trading after NFP.

Everything needed to make a decision for trading is already in place. The NFP data for November was released while that of October was revised. The unemployment rate stayed the same. If the unemployment rate had fallen below 4%, then there would be a surge in the greenback as traders would begin to speculate Fed accelerate rate hiking process.

Since all these figures have been released, then wait for the market to push while you find a decent for a decent retracement before you begin trading. The NFP data was positive thus the status of the USD is now a BUY against other weaker currencies.