A smorgasbord of announcements this week should ensure some volatility in various markets.

The dollar weakened on Friday, enabling paired currencies to take a leg-up. The EUR/USD was one of the big beneficiaries of the weaker dollar. After opening at $1.15662, the pair dipped to lows of $1.15571 very early in the session. It then rallied for most of the day after that point, peaking at $1.16900 during the last hour of trade. It has come of those highs slightly this morning, trading at $1.16720. The pound followed the same trend as the euro. Opening at $1.30752, the GBP/USD hit lows of $1.30654 during the first hour of trade. It then surged for the rest of the session, hitting a high of $1.32128 during the final hour of trade. It has opened a touch lower this morning, trading at $1.32029.

The Dow’s trading session contained a few twists and turns after opening at 24,268.36. It fell to lows of 24,225.12 fairly early before beginning its march upwards. The Dow peaked at 24,514.35 in late trading but fell around 200 points just before the close. In early trading, the Dow sits at 24,286.30. The Dax opened at a low of 12,223.40 and climbed to a high of 12,382.40 a couple of hours later. It was unable to hold onto those highs, falling as much as 125 points before recovering somewhat. It ebbed and flowed going into the close. The Dax closed at 12,283.10.

The week ahead features plenty of significant data releases. The data released today and the most important data published this week includes:

Today – Japanese Final Manufacturing PMI, Australian MI Inflation Gauge, ANZ Job Advertisements and Commodity Prices, China Caixin Manufacturing PMI, UK Manufacturing PMI, US ISM Manufacturing PMI, Construction Spending and ISM Manufacturing Prices, Swiss Retail Sales, Italian, Swiss and Spanish Manufacturing PMIs, European, German and French Final Manufacturing PMIs, Italian Monthly Unemployment Rate, European PPI & Unemployment Rate, Canadian bank holiday

Tuesday – UK Construction PMI, Australian Cash Rate & RBA Rate Statement

Wednesday – Australian Retail Sales & Trade Balance, UK Services PMI, US Bank Holiday

Thursday – BoE Governor Mark Carney speaks, US ADP Non-Farm Employment Change, Crude Oil Inventories and FOMC Meeting Minutes

Friday – US Non-Farm Employment Change, Average Hourly Earnings and Unemployment Rate, Canadian Employment Change, Trade Balance and Unemployment Rate

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