There’s plenty of activity from around the world this week which could lead to some volatile sessions.

The euro once again struggled as the USD gained in strength. The EUR/USD opened at $1.15831 and was flat during the early hours of the session. The pair then fell to $1.15609 before rallying to a high of $1.16099 a few hours later. Ultimately, that proved to be a short term high as it fell to a low of $1.15591 a couple of hours later. It rallied for a short period of time after that, but fell back near session lows. It is currently trading at $1.15601. The GBP/USD showed a bit more resilience than the euro but still weakened in Friday trading. The pair opened at $1.30127 and remained flat for the first few hours of trade. The pair then fell to lows of $1.29737 mid-session before rallying to a high of $1.30424 a few hours later. It could not hold onto those highs however, giving up some of those gains where it is currently trading at $1.30019.

The Dow performed strongly on Friday, shaking off disappointing Non-Farm Payroll data. The Dow opened at 25,354.58 and traded in a tight range early before dropping to a low of 25,285.70. From that point on however, the Dow rallied for most of the session. It climbed to a high of 25,461.90 quite late in the session. It is not far off that high at the moment, trading at 25,449.70. It was a largely uneventful session for the Dax, seemingly uninterested in the Dow rally. The Dax opened at 12,589.86 and dipped to lows of 12,559.90 shortly afterwards. It traded in a reasonably tight range for most of the session where it rallied into the close as it peaked at 12,648.40. The Dax closed at 12,642.40.

The week ahead contains plenty of significant data releases from around the world. The data release for today and the most significant for the rest of the week include:

Today – German Factory Orders, European Sentix Investor Confidence, Japanese Household Spending, US Loan Officer Survey, Australian AIG Construction Index, UK BRC Retail Sales Monitor, Canadian bank holiday

Tuesday – Australian Cash Rate & RBA Rate Statement

Wednesday – US Crude Oil Inventories, NZ Inflation Expectations, RBA Governor Philip Lowe speaks

Thursday – NZ Official Cash Rate, RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement, Rate Statement and Press Conference, China CPI, US PPI

Friday – RBA Monetary Policy Statement, UK GDP, Manufacturing Production and Prelim GDP, UK Goods Trade Balance, Canadian Unemployment Rate and Employment Change, US CPI & Core CPI

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