Supposedly, White House and other US officials don’t get to see the non-farm payrolls data until the afternoon before it’s released. If I were in charge, no one would see it until it was released.
I have to wonder if FOMC officials got an early look at this report as well, or at least a tap on the shoulder that it would be strong. That would go some way to explain why Powell pushed back against March.
For sure you could make the argument that he should have done that anyway, because there has been plenty of strong data, but I wonder…
As for the FOMC, the March meeting is down to 19%. Even if February payrolls are negative, I don’t think you can cut there after this (barring a banking crisis anyway). As for the May 1 meeting, it’s now down to 90%.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com. Source