US Dollar advanced through 96.00 and above

The greenback, tracked by the US Dollar Index, is now sharply higher vs. its main rivals, retaking the 96.00 handle and posting fresh tops at the same time.

US Dollar boosted by NFP

The positive surprise for the buck came from July’s Non-farm Payrolls, showing the US economy has added 255K jobs (vs. 180K estimated) although the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 4.9% (vs. 4.8% forecasted).

Further upbeat results saw Average Weekly Hours at 34.5 and Average Hourly Earnings rising 0.3% vs. 0.2% expected. On the other direction, the US trade deficit widened to $44.51 billion in June from nearly $41.00 billion recorded during the previous month.

Today’s results have catapulted the index to multi-day peaks around 96.20/30, the 50% retracement of the July-August down move.

US Dollar relevant levels

The index is gaining 0.44% at 96.18 facing the immediate up barrier at 96.64 (200-day sma) followed by 97.05 (78.6% Fibo of July-August drop) and finally 97.62 (high Jul.25). On the other hand, a breach of 95.11 (100-day sma) would open the door to 94.94 (low Aug.2) and then 94.00 (up trend off 2016 low at 91.88).