Non-Farms is a crowded trade
May 7, 2021SharePrint
Friday is finally here, and with it the week’s data highlight, the US Non-Farm Payrolls. It has been a choppy week of trading across most asset classes. As the dust settles, only the commodity sector shows a clear win instead of a nil-all draw.
Markets overnight were solidly in global recovery mode, with iron ore and copper powering higher along with platinum group and precious metals. The commodity rally saw the US dollar retreat, notably versus the commodity currencies. That accelerated after robust Initial Jobless Claims data and despite more pseudo hawkish comments from Fed Governor (non-voting) Kaplan. Fellow Governors Bostic and Mesler resolutely stuck to the Fed’s dovish mantra, which dovetailed nicely with what financial markets, in buy-everything mode, wanted to hear.