BREAKING: NFP blowout, CPI now decides the next The market walked into this week expecting solid jobs data.

What it got instead was a blowout.

January’s Non-Farm Payrolls printed 130,000 jobs added, comfortably reinforcing the idea that the US labour market remains resilient despite months of tightening financial conditions.

The unemployment rate also edged lower and wage growth held firm enough to keep policymakers alert.

For investors who had been leaning toward a gradual slowdown story, this was not the confirmation they were looking for.

Now, the upcoming CPI y/y data holds the key to validating USD strength, or throwing a wrench into the mix. Basically, we may get one of the following conditions:

Mixed data: Strong jobs (Good for USD), weakening CPI (Bad for USD)

Aligned data: Strong jobs (Good for USD), increasing CPI (Good for USD)

Keep reading for today’s Gold technical forecast.