Plenty Going on Ahead of Non Farm Payrolls

We’ve seen plenty of action across the markets leading up to tonight’s big Non Farm Payroll numbers, once again we saw the US dollar continue to grind higher against the majority of currencies as the tax reform plan and bills rumbles on, there’s fresh hope that the Brexit negotiations can move onto the next stage with an announcement expected in a few hours and the stock markets are once again looking perky.

The biggest move overnight (excluding the madness in the crypto currencies) came in Gold as some of the longer term longs bailed out of positions and pushed ‘the shiny one’ down from 1,263 to 1,244 on the day. Some traders are seeing this as a bit of a flush out as the pessimists out there still see plenty of opportunity for downside in risk over the medium term - did anyone say Jerusalem! Across the currencies and as usual sterling was a stand out as it bucked the trend and appreciated well against the dollar on the back of the aforementioned Brexit progress. UsdJpy is up over a big figure as the stock markets picked up the pace to shrug of the dip from earlier in the week.

Looking ahead to today’s trading and the main focus will of course be on the Non Farm Payrolls (exp 198k) but the same themes and drivers that we’ve been observing will continue to dominate. So, traders will be keeping a close eye on the news wires for anything fresh in the Brexit and US tax bill worlds. We do have some tier 1 fundamental data due in the form of UK Manufacturing Production data and some lower tier data that could provide some road bumps along the way, but the NFP’s will be the main focus as we progress through the day and expect most currencies to stick to fairly quiet ranges ahead of it.

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