Plenty of activity from around the world should ensure another big week for markets, bringing volatility and opportunity.

The USD again asserted its dominance over other major currencies in Friday trading. The EUR/USD hit highs of $1.19950 early before weakening in the lead up to Non-Farm Payroll data. It spiked from $1.19675 to $1.19933 when the data was released, before tumbling to a low of $1.19096 in the hour after. It regained some of those losses and is currently trading at $1.19596. The pound followed the same path as the euro. The GBP/USD peaked at $1.35854 early then began to weaken. It then climbed from $1.35665 to $1.35823 at the time of the NFP data, then plummeted to a low of $1.34850 shortly afterwards. It has bounced off those lows however, currently trading at $1.35355.

The Dow remained shaky in early and mid-session trading, dropping sharply to lows of 23,772.85 before staging a strong rally for the rest of the session. It reached session highs of 24,328.98 in late trading. It is almost at the highs in early morning trading, currently sitting at 24,324.20. The Dax remained resilient, aided by a falling euro. It dipped to lows of 12,706.70 early before posting steady gains for most of the night thereafter. The Dax peaked late, hitting highs of 12,850.40 before closing at 12,834.50.

The week ahead brings with it plenty of significant markets data and critical economic events. The data released today and the most significant data releases and economic events for the rest of the week include:

Today – Australian NAB Business Confidence & ANZ Job Advertisements, Japanese Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes & Household Spending, BoC Governing Council Member Timothy Lane speaks, German Factory Orders, Swiss Foreign Currency Reserves & CPI, European Retail PMI & Sentix Investor Confidence, US Loan Officer Survey & Consumer Credit, FOMC Members Raphael Bostic & Thomas Barkin speak, UK bank holiday

Tuesday – Australian Annual Budget Release, Australian Retail Sales, NZ Inflation Expectations, Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks

Wednesday – US PPI & Crude Oil Inventories, NZ Official Cash Rate, RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement, RBNZ Rate Statement

Thursday – RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr speaks, UK Manufacturing Production, BoE Inflation Report, UK Official Bank Rate, Monetary Policy Summary & Asset Purchase Facility, US CPI & Core CPI

Friday – Canadian Employment Change & Unemployment Rate, ECB President Mario Draghi speaks

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