A big end to the week should ensure some market volatility as we head into the weekend.

Major currencies continued to be accosted by a strengthening US dollar overnight, sending USD pairs further down. The EUR/USD opened at $1.16088 and crept up to a high of $1.16186 fairly early in trading. From that point on however it began its slide, with only temporary reprieves along the way. The pair tumbled until it reached a low of $1.15225 very late in the session, which it is also currently trading at. The pound showed more signs of life but still succumbed to the strength of the USD. After opening at $1.28772, it fell to$1.28415 before climbing to a session high of $1.29112. All that promise was for nothing as the GBP/USD start its downward spiral to eventually bottom-out at $1.28179. It is not far off those lows, currently trading at $1.28312.

The Dow continues to disappoint, undoing a lot of the gains it has made over the last week or so. The index opened at 25,530.16 and traded in a relatively tight range early before rallying to a high of 25,605.37 in later trading. It could not hold onto that high though, declining over the last few hours to hit lows of 25,460.25. It has fallen further this morning, currently trading at 25,452.70. The Dax was able to buck the trend and strengthen overnight after enduring some wild swings along the way. The German index opened at 12,612.15 and surged to a high of 12,699.50 in early trading. However, the Dax fell off a cliff after reaching those highs, plummeting to lows of 12574.00 in the very next hour. The Dax then rallied the following hour, eliminating most of those losses, hitting near-session highs of 12,690.51. It settled down after that period and went on to close at 12,675.90.

The day ahead is jammed-packed with data, most notably out of the US and UK. The US is publishing crucial CPI & Core CPI data, while the UK is releasing vital GDP (MoM), Prelim GDP (QoQ) and Manufacturing Production figures. All of these pieces of information are crucial to their respective economies and are good indicators of the health of the US & UK economies. Other data set for release today includes:

Australia – RBA Monetary Policy Statement

Japan – Tertiary Industry Activity

US – Federal Budget Balance

Canada – Employment Change, Unemployment Rate

Europe – French Industrial Production & Prelim Private Payrolls, Italian Trade Balance

UK – Goods Trade Balance, NIESR GDP Estimate, Prelim Business Investment, Construction Output, Index of Services, Industrial Production

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