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Pre-Payrolls, USD Positioning Close to Multi-Year Highs

US DATA
  • The US is expected to have added 650k jobs (range 232 - 1,000k) in March, pressing the unemployment rate to post-pandemic lows of 6.0%. The whisper number, however, is far more positive and looks for 790k job gains, suggesting markets may be looking for a strong read this month.
  • Headed into the release, the USD index trades just below cycle highs of 93.437, the best level since early November. A break above here opens key resistance at 94.474, the 38.2% retracement of the 2020-21 downtrend.
  • Options markets are pricing an overnight swing of just over 30 pips in EUR/USD. Given the very slight bias towards USD weakness, a stronger number may strengthen the significance of noted support for the pair at 1.1695, 38.2% retracement of the Mar 2020 - Jan rally.
  • The MNI-weighted synthetic DXY 1m risk reversal has been trending higher over the past six months, hitting a post-pandemic high in early March and reflecting better underlying fundamentals (red line below). This is mirrored in CFTC positioning, with MNI's USD Positioning Indicator hitting the best levels in 18 months in late March.

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