Quite a hectic day for announcements as we head into the weekend ensures there are plenty of opportunities for investors and traders alike.

The USD strengthened overnight, pushing down paired currencies. The EUR/USD was relatively flat in early and mid-session trading. It spiked upwards around the time of the ECB’s interest rate decision. The pair peaked at $1.24457 before tumbling throughout the rest of the night, eventually hitting a low of $1.22972. It is now far off those lows now, trading at $1.23112. The GBP/USD started the session well, topping $1.39091 in mid-session trading. It was mainly bad news from then on, falling to an eventual low of $1.37804. it recovered a bit better than the Euro though, currently trading at $1.38116.

The Dow had a bumpy ride last night as the index tries to shake off the uncertainty that has plagued it for the past month. It remained flat in earl and mid-session trading before spiking to a high of 24,951.10. It then dropped to session lows of 24,700.10 before regaining most of those losses to be currently trading at 24,876.40. The Dax remains stubborn while volatility surrounds it. It weakened to session lows in early trading, then it piled on as much as 210 points as it reached a high of 12,386.47. It is not far from those highs now, trading at 12,350.70.

The day ahead is quite busy, but the main focus surrounds the US Non-Farm Employment Change data. This is crucial jobs data which gives markets a great indication of the health of employment in the US. Of equal importance is the Average Hourly Earnings data. This denotes wage inflation for workers. This is vital for economic growth as higher wages means more spending that occurs in the economy. Other data set for release today includes:

China – CPI, PPI, M2 Money Supply, New Loans

Canada – Employment Change, Unemployment Rate, Capacity Utilisation Rate

US – Unemployment Rate, Final Wholesale Inventories

Europe – German Industrial Production, German Trade Balance, French Government Budget Balance, French Industrial Production

Japan – BoJ Policy Rate, Monetary Policy Statement, BoJ Press Conference, Household Spending, M2 Money Stock, Average Cash Earnings

UK – Manufacturing Production, Goods Trade Balance, Construction Output, Consumer Inflation Expectations, Industrial Production, NIESR GDP Estimate

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