ForexLive North American close: Jobs galore

Jan non-farm payrolls +243K vs +140K exp Unemployment rate +8.3% vs +8.5% exp ISM non-manufacturing 56.8 vs 53.2 exp Factory orders +1.1% vs +1.5% exp Canadian jobs +2.3K vs +22.0K exp Bullard QE3 unlikely absent significant deterioration BBG: Official losses on Greek debt still an open question Greek creditors committee chairs head to Athens Swiss govt: 1.20 floor the absolute minimum Zoellick: Worry that support for euro govts could fall apart Portuguese 10-year yields fall 138bps to 13.4% Venizelos, Papademos schedule weekend meetings S&P 500 gains 1.5% to 1344 -- highest close since July It's not often that non-farm payrolls deserves the hype that it gets but today was one of those days. The headline, the revisions, the details -- everything was upbeat. The straightaway trades were to buy USD/JPY and sell gold. USD/JPY climbed 50 pips before settling a bit lower while gold chopped $34 lower to $1725. EUR/USD gained to 1.32 initially but then the dollar rallied on lowered expectations for QE, slumping all the way to 1.3066. The pair recovered into the European close and continued to climb higher on optimism about a Greek deal. USD/CAD was whipsawed. Gains to 1..034 came after soft Canadian jobs data but reversed on the US numbers, falling to 0.9975. The decline continued after the strong ISM number flushed stops below the 200dma. AUD/USD ran into large barriers at 1.0750 post-NFP but was eventually able to chomp through and hit a new 5-month high at 1.0794. EUR/CHF edged higher on the govt vote of confidence in the peg before a small round of position squaring into the end of the day.