A bank holiday in the US today, but employment data later this week will be closely scrutinised

The US dollar performed well on Friday in spite of data falling short of market expectations. The US dollar strengthened before the weekend as investors looked to buy safer haven currencies due to the uncertainty surrounding the on-going crisis in Syria. This move came despite personal spending and personal income figures falling short of analyst predictions, although, consumer sentiment figures were strong. It is the labour day bank holiday in the US today, as a result, liquidity will be low and could well cause increased volatility in the market. Data released out of the US this week includes manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI figures, trade balance data and a raft of unemployment data which includes the highly influential non – farm pay roll data which will be announced on Friday and is always watched extremely closely by investors. With both positive and negative data coming from the US recently, investors will pay extra close attention to the figures released this week as they try to predict when the Federal Reserve will start to taper its quantitative easing program. Get the latest news by calling in.