EUR/USD spikes above mid-1.1700s and quickly retreats to 2-1/2 week lows post-NFP

   •  The US economy added 2228K new jobs in November.
   •  Dismal earnings growth fails to provide an additional boost to the USD. 

The EUR/USD pair trimmed some of its losses to 2-1/2 week lows and recovered back above mid-1.1700s post-US jobs report.
 
The US Dollar lost some altitude despite better-than-expected headline NFP print that showed the US economy added 228K news jobs during the month of November and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. 

The disappointment seems to have come from the hourly earnings growth that recorded a weaker-than-expected 0.2% m-o-m rise (0.3% expected), with the yearly rate ticking higher to 2.5% (2.7% expected) during the reported period. 

Today's mixed employment details did little to offset the prevalent strong bullish sentiment around the greenback, which remained support by the latest optimism over a major US tax overhauls legislation, and capped any meaningful recovery for the major.

With the key US employment details out of the way, the USD price dynamics would continue to act as an exclusive driver of the pair’s movement on the last trading day of the week. 

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, American Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes: "In the 4 hours chart, the pair is below all of its moving averages, as technical indicators accelerate south, supporting the ongoing bearish bias.  The EUR/USD pair trades in the 1.1740 price zone after hitting 1.1734, its lowest in two weeks and is now poised to complete a full 100% retracement to 1.1712, November 21st low. An acceleration downward through the level should lead to a test of 1.1660, later on the day."

"An immediate short term resistance is located at 1.1760, followed by the 1.1800 level, where the pair has the 61.8% retracement of the late November bullish run", she added.