In the first quarter of 2018, employment edged down (-40,000 or -0.2%), as a result of a decrease in January. Over the longer term, employment has been on an upward trend since the second half of 2016.

On a year-over-year basis, total employment rose by 296,000 (+1.6%), with the number of full-time workers increasing by 335,000 (+2.3%). Over the same period, total hours worked grew by 2.2%.

In March, among the core-aged population (25 to 54 years old), employment increased for women and decreased for men. At the same time, employment was up for youth aged 15 to 24, and was little changed for people 55 years and older.

Employment was up in Quebec and Saskatchewan, while there was little change in the other provinces.

There were more people working in construction, public administration and agriculture.

The number of public sector employees edged up, while the number of private sector employees and self-employed held steady.

Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in manufacturing, health care, and mining. In March, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent for the sixth consecutive month, and the number of unemployed persons, at 6.6 million, changed little.

In March, employment in manufacturing rose by 22,000, with all of the gain in the durable goods component. Employment in fabricated metal products increased over the month (+9,000). Over the year, manufacturing has added 232,000 jobs; the durable goods component accounted for about three-fourths of the jobs added.

In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents to $26.82. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 71 cents, or 2.7 percent. Average hourly earnings for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 4 cents to $22.42 in March.

• Falls in equity prices and prevailing uncertainty on retaliatory measures have already contributed to tighter financial conditions

• European Union is a vehicle that brings the benefits of economic openness to the greatest number of its citizens

• Instructed USTR to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, "Iin light of China's unfair retaliation"

• "Still prepared to have discussions" with China on trade

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.2356 (2902)

$1.2322 (4526)

$1.2301 (850)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.2233

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.2198 (4512)

$1.2149 (6518)

$1.2099 (3374)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date April, 6 is 112559 contracts (according to data from April, 5) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,2150 (6518);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.4107 (1864)

$1.4072 (2453)

$1.4047 (2695)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.3995

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.3947 (1339)

$1.3899 (3251)

$1.3850 (1393)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date April, 6 is 29808 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,4200 (2832);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date April, 6 is 36504 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3800 (3570);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 1.22 versus 1.15 from the previous trading day according to data from April, 5

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.

In February 2018, production in industry was down by 1.6% from the previous month on a price, seasonally and working day adjusted basis according to provisional data of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In January 2018, the corrected figure shows an increase of 0.1% (primary -0.1%) from December 2017.

In February 2018, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down by 2.0%. Within industry, the production of capital goods decreased by 3.1% and the production of consumer goods by 1.5%. The production of intermediate goods showed a decrease by 0.7%. Energy production was up by 4.0% in February 2018 and the production in construction decreased by 2.2%.