Will Non-Farm Payrolls Recover?

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25bp Wednesday evening and hinted that they will pause when they meet again in June. In response to this shift, the market immediately priced in an 85 percent chance that interest rates will be left at 2 percent at the next two monetary policy meetings. Since then the expectations have eased slightly as traders gear up for Friday’s non-farm payrolls report. The sell-off in the US dollar following the FOMC rate decision suggests that many market participants are not necessarily convinced by the hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve. If the labour market continues to weaken, the central bank may have no choice but to pick up where they left off and only hope that slower US demand will be enough to bring down inflation. The level of non-farm payrolls in the month of April will help to determine whether the Federal Reserve will really keep interest rates unchanged in both June and August and where the US dollar is headed next.