The election is upon us and it is sure to create volatility in the markets, particularly if the polls remain tight. The markets have factored in a likely win by Democrat Hillary Clinton, but as time goes by, Republican Donald Trump appears to be edging closer. An unlikely win by Trump will almost certainly send the markets into a spin for a number of reasons.

1. The markets have factored in a Clinton victory.
2. Trump is somewhat an unknown quantity. Having not being part of the “political establishment”, many people are unsure of how Trump will act in the political sphere.
3. Trump’s unpredictability.
4. Trump rhetoric and views on existing trade deals.

Although all eyes are firmly placed on the election, there are still a number of announcements coming out today. This is headlined by a key announcement from China and a number of announcements from Europe and the UK.

China is releasing its Trade Balance figures. With China being such a huge trading nation, we look to these figures with great interest to gauge the strength of Chinese imports and exports. It is especially vital to keep an eye on these figures as China missed its forecast Trade Balance last month by over $80 billion, signalling a possibility of a slowing economy.

Europe is set to release German Industrial Production, German Trade Balance, French Government Trade Balance and French Trade Balance figures. As with the Chinese Trade Balance data, these figures are important as they reflect the strength of trade within Europe’s two largest economies.

The UK is releasing Manufacturing and Industrial Production data. This data is vital in determining the health of the respective sectors of the UK economy. They are also releasing NIESR (National Institute of Economic and Social Research) GDP Estimate.

Elsewhere, the US is releasing NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) Small Business Index & JOLTS Job Openings data. Japan is releasing Leading Indicator figures and Canada is coming out with Housing Starts and Building Permits data.

It does look as though the election will overshadow all of these announcements, aside from possibly the Trade Balance data from China.