Overview of the Markets

A week of high impact data concluded on Friday night with the much anticipated Non-Farm Payroll report from the USA. The numbers did not disappoint, as employers boosted payrolls by the most in 2 years and the jobless rate plunged to the lowest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The report beat the expected number of 216,000 jobs as it surged to 288,000, the biggest beat since February 2012. Unemployment dropped to 6.3%, the lowest level since September 2008.

The market reaction was swift as the AUD sold off aggressively, only to bounce back within a few hours to levels that we were looking at on Friday afternoon in Sydney. This was attributed to soft wages data, with average hourly earnings, month on month and year on year numbers failing to show improvement.

The situation in Ukraine is still a concern, Barrack Obama says that more severe sanctions will be taken if the destabilisation continues.

This week is heavy on data in Australia, Building Approvals and Chinese Inflation numbers will move the market today, Trade Balance, the Cash Balance and RBA Statement are announced on Tuesday, Retail Sales Wednesday and Employment Data on Thursday. The week is rounded out with the RBA Monetary Policy Statement on Friday, all of which indicates another week of volatility is on the cards.