A day chock-full of announcements, while we are seeing plenty of volatility already.

The Dow continues to be quite volatile at the moment. After hitting lows early of 24,296.00, the Dow piled on the points as it reached a peak of 24,623.00. It remained reasonably steady after that. However, just as this blog is being written, we have seen a large leg-down in early trading this morning. The Dow has plummeted around 500 points in a 15-minute period about an hour after the open. it is currently trading at 24,085.60. The Dax held up quite well overnight as it followed the Dow on an upward trajectory. It began the session at lows of 12,093.00 but then continued its march upwards as it hit highs of 12,324.57. It has come off those highs and closed at 12,284.90. It’s probably a good thing that the Dax is closed, otherwise it would likely have been dragged down with the Dow and its sudden sell-off.

The EUR/USD copped a beating overnight as the USD gained in strength. It went from early highs of $1.22897 to bottom-out at $1.22171. It continues to recover the losses in early trading, currently trading at $1.22503. The GBP/USD copped a hammering as a strengthening USD and a weakening GBP conspired to send the pair down over a cent from its highs. It peaked at $1.40962 from the open then continue to fall away until it reached session lows of $1.39644. It has pared back some of those losses and is currently trading at $1.40055.

The big market news of the day is the release of the Non-Farm Payroll and associated data later tonight from the US. As far as market data goes, this is one of the more significant pieces that will be published. It will likely cause market volatility. Keep an eye out for the Average Hourly Earnings data as this reflects wage inflation. It is considered as important as the actual non-farm figure itself. Other data set for release today includes:

China – Bank holiday

Japan – Leading Indicators

UK – Housing Equity Withdrawal, BoE Governor Mark Carney speaks

Canada – Employment Change, Unemployment Rate, Ivey PMI

US – Unemployment Rate, Consumer Credit, Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks

Europe – German Industrial Production, French Gove Budget Balance, French Trade Balance, Foreign Currency Reserves, European Retail PMI

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