A more subdued Friday as far as announcements go means that Janet Yellen’s speech comes into focus.

The Euro strengthened overnight, but seemingly not caused by anything data-related, as this blog made the point of yesterday. The EUR/USD pair is currently trading at $1.1848, up from the $1.1793 level of this time yesterday. The speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen in the early hours of tomorrow morning may move the pair. Again, there is little in the way of data being released tonight to cause the pair to fluctuate. The NZD fell off a cliff overnight, down around 2% against the USD as shocks reverberated from the nation’s election outcome. No party received enough of a majority to rule outright, but in a shock to many people, the party that finished second formed a coalition with a smaller party to overtake the party that many expected to take power (the party with the most votes).

The Dow is continuing its remarkable run, ending the session at another record close of 23,163.04, up 5.44 points (+0.02%). But the end result does not tell the full story of the Dow’s wild journey. After opening at 23,157.60 yesterday, the Dow dropped 104 points, before strong company earnings helped erase that deficit and add a few points on top for good measure. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ were less adventurous than the headline-grabbing Dow. The S&P added a meagre 0.84 points (+0.03%) to close at 2,562.10. The NASDAQ pull back slightly, down 19.15 points (-0.29%) to end the session at 6,605.07. Europe was down across the board, the DAX shedding 52.93 points (-0.41%) to close at 12,990.10 and the FTSE shaved 19.83 points (-0.26%) to close at 7,523.04.

Gold has found some friends again, jumping almost $10 since this time yesterday as the weaker dollar plays its part in making the precious metal more attractive. Gold is currently trading at $1,291.80.

A speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen is the highlight of today’s events. As head of the Fed Reserve, what she has to say can be significant, not on for US stocks, but also for USD currency pairs. Her speech may move the EUR/USD pairing, along with the GBP/USD pair. Other events today include:

New Zealand – Credit Card Spending

UK – Public Sector Net Borrowing

Europe – German PPI, European Current Account

US – Existing Home Sales

Canada – Retail & Core Retail Sales, CPI, Common, Median, Trimmed & Core CPIs.