This week’s star performer, the “US Dollar”

It was a challenging Thursday for the US dollar in the lead up to the all-important non-farm employment figures due today. The US currency continued to strengthen against sterling and the euro as investors continue to flock to the safe-haven currency. Data releases did not affect the continued strength from the US dollar, with negative figures all around. Unemployment claims, the weekly indicator for labour data in the US, showed a significant rise in unemployment this week, as well as a negative factory orders figure.

Attention today is on how the Non-Farm Employment will perform. With recent weak indications of employment in the US, a positive figure could shock the US and strengthen the US dollar further. The outcome is expected to be a stable figure, given that there have been no real shocks seen for the past few months. Average hourly earnings data is also due – a key figure that the Federal Reserve is using as a possible threshold to increase interest rates later in the year; this is expected to remain positive.