It is a data-heavy week for markets, with announcements from around the world catering for all traders.

Monday – US Goods Trade Balance, UK bank holiday

Tuesday – US Consumer Confidence, French Prelim GDP

Wednesday – US ADP Non-Farm Employment Change & Prelim GDP, German Prelim CPI, Australian Building Approvals, Spanish Flash CPI

Thursday – US Crude Oil Inventories & Unemployment Claims, China Manufacturing PMI, German Retail Sales, European CPI & Core CPI Flash Estimate

Friday – US Non-Farm Employment Change, Average Hourly Earnings, ISM Manufacturing PMI, China Caixin Manufacturing PMI, UK Manufacturing PMI

This week will be an interesting one, particularly for those who trade the EUR/USD, the Dow and gold.

A spike in the Euro late last Friday caught some by surprise as markets reacted to Mario Draghi’s speech during the Jackson Hole Symposium. This week brings with it plenty of European and US data, which has the potential to cause the currencies to fluctuate in strength.

The Non-Farm Employment & related figures will also likely have an effect on the Dow Jones, as these figures are crucial to determining the strength of the jobs markets. The Fed Reserve also uses this data to help it decide interest rate data.

With gold being a ‘safe-haven’ asset, it is prone to significant movements from time to time. In times of global uncertainty, gold becomes an attractive investment for a lot of traders. As tensions continue to simmer between the US and North Korea, China and India are involved in a border dispute which threatens to escalate into military conflict. Both countries have troops posted along the disputed border and it is unclear whether the US will step in to help ease tensions.