EUR/USD off highs post-Payrolls, near 1.0960 ahead of Powell

• EUR/USD moves lower and challenges 1.0960.
• US Non-farm Payrolls came in at 136K in September.
• Fed’s J.Powell speak later in a ‘Fed Listens’ event.

The selling interest around the single currency is now gathering extra pace and is motivating EUR/USD to recede from tops near 1.10 the figure.

EUR/USD offered on Payrolls, looks to Powell

The pair is shedding further ground on Friday after the US economy created 136K jobs during last month, missing expectations at 145K and down from August’s 168K (revised from 130K).

Further data showed the jobless rate ticked lower to 3.5% and the critical Average Hourly Earnings – a proxy for inflation via wages – came in flat on a monthly basis and rose 2.9% over the last twelve months, both readings coming in below consensus.

EUR/USD levels to watch

At the moment, the pair is retreating 0.02% at 1.0961 and faces the next resistance at 1.0998 (21-day SMA) followed by 1.1109 (monthly high Sep.13) and finally 1.1163 (high Aug.26). On the downside, a breakdown of 1.0879 (2019 low Oct.1) would target 1.0839 (monthly low May 11 2017) en route to 1.0569 (monthly low Apr.10 2017).