End of the Week Here for Forex Markets – What’s Happening?

The end of the foreign exchange trading week might now be upon us, but what’s scheduled in on the economic calendar to happen in the next few days?

Firstly, today (Friday) there will be some key data releases coming out of both Europe and the US.

Gross domestic product information for the second quarter of the year covering all of Europe will be released at 9am GMT.

Quarter on quarter, it is expected that this will show no change from 0.2%.

Year on year employment change data for the same period will be out at the same time.

This is again expected to hold firm, this time showing no change from 1.1%.

US nonfarm payrolls for the August period will be out at 12.30pm GMT.

This is expected to show a shift from 164,000 to 158,000 – an indicator which, if it comes through, may well be perceived as positive news for the dollar and for the US economy.

Overall US unemployment rate figures for August will be out at this time too.

These are expected to show no change from their previous position of 3.7%.

The theme of North American employment data is likely to continue as the day goes on, with data on Canadian net change in employment expected to come out at 12.30pm GMT.

This rate is expected to show a significant leap from -24,200 to +15,000.

Overall, however, there’ll be more of the same story on many of the day’s other releases.

The final unemployment rate for August will stay at the same position as before at 5.7%.

Unusually for a Friday, the day will be rounded off by a series of major central banker speeches.

Jerome Powell, who heads up the Federal Reserve in the US, is expected to make a speech at 4.30pm GMT.

The Chair of the Swiss National Bank, Thomas Jordan, will speak at the same time.

The next foreign exchange week will kick off properly on Sunday rather than Monday.

Data on Canadian exports and imports will be the first release on the horizon, and this is expected to be monitored very closely by traders given the ongoing problems China is facing with regard to trade in the US.

Japanese bank lending figures for August will be out at 11.50pm GMT.

These were last recorded at 2.3%.

This will then be bolstered by Japanese gross domestic product figures for the second quarter of 2019, which are due at the same time.

These are expected to show a quarter on quarter rise from 0.4% to 0.5%.

On Monday of next week, Britain will follow in Japan’s footsteps by releasing a gross domestic product figure – this time for July.

Traders will no doubt be interested to see how profound an impact Brexit has had on this metric, and whether or not economic activity has slowed as a result.

On the topic of Brexit, Monday is also likely to deliver some clarity on whether or not Britain will face a general election in October after a key House of Commons vote.