AUD/USD jumps above 0.7600 after non-farm payrolls

Disappointing headline NFP print helped the AUD/USD pair to extend its recovery from two-week lows and jump back to 50-day SMA.

Currently trading back above 0.7600 handle, the pair gained momentum after the US monthly employment details failed to impress US Dollar bulls. The Labor Department reported that the US economy added 156K new jobs in September versus 175K expected, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 5.0% from 4.9% in August.

The pair, however, seems struggling to attract follow through buying interest as today's labor market report was not weak enough to take December Fed rate-hike bets off the table, which might keep investors away from higher-yielding currencies - like the Aussie. 

It would now be interesting to see how market participants interpret the data and its implication on expectations over the timing of next Fed rate-hike decision. CME group's FedWatch Tool is currently showing over 60% probability of such an action in December.

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, notes, "the short term picture is modestly bullish, as in the 1 hour chart, the price is above a slightly bullish 20 SMA while the technical indicators aim higher around their mid-lines, albeit it will take this candle to close to get a clearer picture. In the 4 hours chart, however, the risk remains towards the downside, as the 20 SMA and the 200 EMA converge around the mentioned high, capping the upside, while technical indicators have pared losses, and turned modestly higher, but remain within negative territory."

"Support levels: 0.7560 0.7520 0.7490
Resistance levels: 0.7600 0.7650 0.7700"