The US dollar closed out on Friday with some modest gains. The nonfarm payrolls data was broadly mixed. According to the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy added 156k jobs in August. This was below consensus estimates of 180k. July’s numbers were also revised down to 189k from 209k previously.
Average hourly earnings were also weak, rising just 0.1% on the month after rising 0.3% in July. The unemployment rate inched higher to 4.4%.
The rather weak payrolls report was offset by the ISM manufacturing PMI data. For August, manufacturing PMI rose to 58.8, beating estimates by a strong margin and accelerating from 56.3 in July.
Looking ahead, the economic calendar today will include the Eurozone Sentix investor confidence. Median estimates point to a reading of 27.4, slightly below 27.7 that was registered previously. The UK’s construction PMI numbers will also be coming out later in the day with forecasts showing a modest increase from 51.9 in July to 52.1 in August.
