Markets Await the U.S. Non-farm Payrolls

On Thursday, the U.S. dollar declined to a three-week low against a basket of major currencies, negatively affected by weak U.S. data.  On the other hand, China's Yuan (RMB) soared vs. the Greenback and hit a seven-year high as China's service sector rose to a 17-month high in December. 

Uncertainty dominates the dollar’s outlook after Trump threatening to impose a big border tax on Toyota Motor, if the world's largest automaker builds its Corolla cars for the U.S. market at a plant in Mexico.  The Fed. has already warned of an economic war between USA and China but now it shifted to Japan, which threatens the international trade interests and U.S. trades as well. 

The U.S. dollar index fell as much as 1% yesterday and traded at 101.50.
Gold prices rose by 1.5% to $1,180 as Job creation tailed off dramatically last month. Data showed that private companies added 153k in December, which was considerably below market expectations of 170k. 

The precious metal is awaiting the U.S. non-farm payrolls, which could add 170k in December, while the unemployment rate is at 4.7%. Technically,  a higher than expected reading should be taken as bearish for Gold, while a lower than expected reading should be taken as bullish for the precious metal.

Sterling pound jumped yesterday vs. the Greenback and settled above $1.24, backed by the UK purchasing managers' index (PMI) and soft USD. Technically, it could hit resistance of $1.25. 

Euro pared most of its gains and settled near $10.6 vs. USD in anticipation of the U.S. non-farm payrolls, which will be published today. 

Oil prices settled yesterday, after Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude producer, started talks with customers about a reduction in crude to meet OPEC's deal to reduce output. U.S. crude traded near $54 and could touch such those levels by the end of today.

The most important economic events:

• CAD Unemployment Rate (DEC): (GMT: 15:30) – Important – forecast (6.9%) – Previous (6.8%).
• USD Change in Non-farm Payrolls (DEC): (GMT: 15:30) – Important – forecast (175k) – Previous (178k).
• CAD Net Change in Employment (DEC): (GMT: 15:30) – Important – forecast (-2.5k) – Previous (10.7k).
• USD Unemployment Rate (DEC): (GMT: 15:30) – Important – forecast (4.7%) – Previous (4.6%).

Disclaimer
The prices and news mentioned in this outlook are absolutely no guarantee of future market performance and do not represent the view of ICM Capital Limited. Financial markets can move in either direction causing profits to be made or complete losses to be incurred by the trader. Each trader must decide for themselves what their risk appetite is and ensure that correct risk management procedures are in place before placing any trades.