08:20am  ~  It’s that time of the month again, the first Friday of the month and the U.S. employment numbers are out at lunchtime.  As usual this means I shall not be trading today as the markets will be flat this morning followed by volatility after the U.S. trading session open.

The U.S. Labour Department announced yesterday that the weekly jobless claims figures fell for the first time in 3 weeks to 331000, a 20,000 loss compared with last week. Meanwhile earnings from well known brands like Coca Cola & Walt Disney came in above estimates suggesting the U.S.  economy remains on the up for the moment. This then translated in a sharp rally during yesterday’s session with the Dow Jones 30 ending ahead by 165 points to 15,614.  The S&P500 has bounced nicely off the support level at 1737 as well after a rest on Tuesday. Does this mean the Non Farm Payroll numbers are going to come in ahead of expectations with markets rising or have the numbers been priced in after yesterday’s rise ?

Why does the Non Farm Payrolls numbers matter so much ?  Well, the U.S. is the world’s largest economy and job creation over there  is an important leading indicator of consumer spending, and that accounts for a majority of overall economic activity in America.