Aussie skyrockets post Aus jobs, US data next focus

FXStreet (Bali) - The Australian Dollar was the big winner in the Asian session, after a very solid employment report, not only beating expectations by a mile, but also coming in with some hefty prior data revision, although that was mainly due to a new calculation method adopted.

On the flip side, the US Dollar traded in a soft tone right from the get go of the Tokyo open, with EUR/USD testing offers above the 1.07 sticky resistance, USD/JPY keep probing bids at 118.75 macro lows, while NZD/USD made a new high of 0.7635 fueled by AUD/USD gains/broad-based USD weakness.

Key headlines

New Zealand job ads: Steady demand but pace is slowing - ANZ

Fed's Potter: Fed market desk is ready for rate lift off

Australian jobs: March beats estimates, full-time drives growth

Heading into Europe/US

The calendar in Europe is virtually empty, with only the Italian trade balance . The absence of data will make trading more technical, with the main focus being the US Dollar, and whether or not recent weakness can resume, following yet another disappointing day of data releases on Wednesday.

In the US, Housing Starts (MoM), Building Permits (MoM) (Mar), Continuing Jobless Claims (3rd week Apr) and the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey (Apr) will be the events to watch for.

Andrew Hunter, Economist at Capital Economics, notes: "The 17% m/m plunge in housing starts in February was in large part due to very severe winter weather in the Northeast and Midwest, where starts fell by 57% and 37%, respectively. With the weather conditions far less severe in March, we suspect that homebuilders were keen to make up for lost time. We forecast a strong rebound in starts (13.30 BST) to 1.1m annualised, from 897,000."