Greenback Remains Under Pressure, Kiwi Takes Lead

Most G10 currency pairs meandered within fairly tight ranges in muted pre-NFP trade, with all eyes on the widely watched U.S. labour market report. Modest risk-on flows materialised in early trade, as solid earnings reports from Amazon, Snapchat and Pinterest allowed U.S. tech equities to catch a breath in the wake of yesterday's sell-off. That being said, the spillover into FX space was marginal at best.

• The dollar index (DXY) extended its rout and is poised to mark a fifth day of losses, as the greenback underperformed all of its major peers. The index descended onto its 100-DMA, which limited losses in mid-Jan. The USD may have faced some further pressure from continued EUR purchases, following a relatively hawkish post-MonPol press conference with Pres Lagarde held Thursday.
• The kiwi dollar outperformed despite the absence of notable headlines. Some linked NZD strength to optimistic comments from PM Ardern, who pointed to a fairly slow spread of the Omicron variant across New Zealand. Meanwhile, government data showed that NZ job ads rose about 1.0% Q/Q in the final quarter of 2021, accelerating after an upward revised 0.8% gain recorded in Q3.
• Apart from U.S. jobs data, today's data highlights include Canadian labour market report, EZ retail sales & German factory orders. Central bank speaker slate features BoE's Bailey, Broadbent & Pill as well as ECB's Villeroy. Elsewhere, Norwegian FinMin will name the new Norges Bank Governor. The decision is unlikely to any notable immediate market impact.