Big night for markets as attention turns to the release of the Non-Farm Payroll data from the US later tonight.

The US is the only focus tonight as a chunk of employment related data is published. Aside from the headline Non-Farm figure, other related data includes: Average Hourly Earnings, Unemployment Rate and Trade Balance. These employment figures are vital for the economy, as they reflect the strength of the jobs market. It is also crucial as the Fed Reserve look at these figures to help form their interest rate policy. Considering there is an interest rate meeting later this month (15th) this is the last of the Non-Farm employment data to be released before the central bank meets. Just as important as the headline Non-Farm figure, is the Average Hourly Earnings. As employment numbers remain strong, policymakers are looking at Average Hourly Earnings as it reflects wage growth for workers in the. Wage growth is significant to consider because if rates are raised too quickly, while wage growth remains weak, it has the potential to push people into poverty. This is because as rates rise, things become more expensive. If wages fail to move in line with increasing costs for a long period, then costs of living become unaffordable.

Elsewhere around the world, Japan is releasing Consumer Confidence figures, Europe is publishing Spanish Unemployment Change & PPI data, the UK is providing markets with Construction PMI data and Canada is announcing Trade Balance and Labour Productivity figures.