EURUSD eases amid illiquid markets, pre-NFP caution

EURUSD grinds lower amid inactive global markets, mainly due to the Good Friday holidays in major bourses. Adding strength to the market’s inaction could be the cautious mood ahead of the US monthly employment data, especially after the recent disappointments from statistics.

Apart from the Good Friday and downbeat US employment clues, not to forget the pre-data anxiety, the fears of recession seem to have recently tightened the grip and allowed the US Dollar bears to take a breather. In that case, the downbeat economic forecasts from the IMF and Fed’s favorite growth matrix gained major attention.

USDJPY, NZDUSD and AUDUSD remained comparatively more active as bourses in Japan and China remain open.

With the US Dollar’s rebound, the commodities are slightly down in futures even if the spot is closed. The Treasury bond yields are also in the bearish consolidation mode while equities in Tokyo and China print mild gains.

Cryptocurrencies remain on the back foot amid fears of more regulation and looming disappointment from Ethereum Token unlock.

Following are the latest moves of the key assets:

• Brent oil eyes third consecutive weekly gain around $85.00 despite latest inaction.
• Gold braces for the first weekly positive in three while defending $2,000.
• USD Index grinds higher but stays on the way to weekly loss ahead of the key data.
• Wall Street again closed with minor gains and so did the equities in the Asia-Pacific region.
• BTCUSD adds to the weekly losses around $27,400 while ETHUSD losses over 1.0% intraday but stays on the way to posting weekly gains near $1,850.

Sluggish at best

Although the aforementioned catalysts tried to offer a bit more activity to those who still have to work on the Good Friday holiday, the markets remain inactive on a broader scale. As a result, the countertrend traders turn opportunistic and pare some of the weekly moves ahead of the key US data.

• Strong buy: USDJPY
• Strong sell: ETHUSD, GBPUSD
• Buy: USD Index, USDCAD, Nasdaq, EURUSD
• Sell: DAX, FTSE 100, gold, BTCUSD, AUDUSD

Nothing major than NFP

Even if the major markets are off, today’s US NFP becomes all the more important as the early signals have been downbeat. Additionally increasing importance of today’s US job reports is the history of the employment numbers disappointing markets when they’re too bearish. Furthermore, next week’s US inflation data and FOMC minutes are extra reasons for traders to remain cautious ahead of the US jobs report.

That said, the US employment numbers are likely to ease and may drown the US Dollar. However, any positive surprise won’t be taken lightly amid the illiquid markets.

May the trading luck be with you!