The USD strengthened for a short period against the Euro in the aftermath of a mixed jobs report. Although the headline missed miserably (-33k vs 82k expected), the unemployment rate dropped from 4.4% to 4.2%. Average Hourly Earnings recorded its biggest monthly increase since February 2016, growing 0.5% vs 0.3% expected. By the end of the trading session however, the EUR/USD pairing returned to the mid $1.17 level, where it is currently trading at $1.1738.

US stocks remained flat, despite the wage growth data. The NASDAQ was the only index to finish slightly ahead, up 4.82 points (+0.07%) to end the session at 6,590.18. The Dow shaved 1.72 points (-0.01%) to close at 22,773.67, while the S&P 500 ended the session down 2.74 points (-0.11%) to close at 2,549.33.

Looking at the week ahead and there are a few pieces of significant information to be released from around the world, with the US CPI and Retail Sales figures due out on Friday night. The information released today and the significant events for the week include:

Monday – German Industrial Production, China Caixin Services PMI, European Sentix Investor Confidence, Japan, US & Canada bank holidays

Tuesday – UK Manufacturing Production

Wednesday – US Fed Reserve Members Neel Kashkari and Robert Kaplan speak

Thursday – FOMC Meeting Minutes, US PPI and Unemployment Claims

Friday – US CPI, Core CPI, Retail Sales, Core Retail Sales, Crude Oil Inventories, ECB President Mario Draghi is due to speak