On Friday, the US dollar index pulled back from the session highs of about 99.40 to trade at about 98.98 after the latest data. The DXY trades within an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart.

The dollar currency index has now fallen to trade slightly below the 100-hour moving average line after the pullback. However, the USDX still has some room left to run before reaching the oversold levels of the 14-hour RSI.

The US Dollar Index Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the US dollar index trades during a relatively busy period in the US market. On Friday, nonfarm payrolls for February fell short of the forecasted tally of 59k, with a net change of -92k, down from the previous month’s job count of 126k. The unemployment rate for the month also missed the expectation of 4.3%, with 4.4%, up from 4.3% in January. 

On the other hand, the average hourly wage growth for the period came in better than expected, with a (MoM) change of 0.4% versus a forecast of 0.3%. The (YoY) equivalent also outshone the estimate of 3.7%, with a change of 3.8%. Elsewhere, the retail sales for January beat the expected (MoM) change of -0.3%, with a change of -0.2%.

Earlier in the week, the ISM Services PMI for February came in stronger than expected, with 56.1 versus a forecast of 53.5, up from 53.8 in January. The initial jobless claims for last week also beat the forecast of 215k with 213k, unchanged from the previous week. 

On the other hand, the preliminary unit nonfarm productivity for Q4 missed the expectation of 4.8%, with a change of 2.8%, while unit labour costs beat 0.2%, with a change of 2.8%.

The US Dollar Index Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the US dollar index trades within an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart. However, the 14-hour RSI has recently pulled back to avoid entering overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bears will look to extend the latest pullback towards 98.51 or lower to 98.08. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on rebounds at about 99.40 or higher at 99.84.

The US Dollar Index Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the US dollar index trades within a descending channel formation. However, the 14-day RSI has recently bounced back to avoid falling into oversold conditions.

Therefore, the bulls will look to stretch the latest rebound towards 100.37 or higher to 101.88. On the other hand, the bears will look to pounce on profits at about 97.50 or lower at 95.91.