Gold continues to show little movement, as the spot price stands at $1201.10 in Friday's European session. On the release front, the markets are expecting a strong reading from Nonfarm Employment Change, with the estimate standing at 231 thousand. As well, the US will release the Unemployment Rate and Trade Balance.
On Thursday, ECB head Mario Draghi said that that he had no plans to implement quantitative easing for the time being and that the ECB would review its stimulus program in early 2015. The euro shot up about 130 points following the news, although it later gave back some of these gains. The ECB also downgraded its forecasts for growth and inflation, and if the Eurozone economy fails to improve, there is a reasonable likelihood that the ECB will embark on the QE route. Meanwhile, there was some unexpected good news from Germany on Friday, as Factory Orders climbed 2.5% in October, marking a three-month high. This is easily beat the forecast of a 0.6% gain.
There was good news on the US employment front on Thursday, as jobless claims improved to 297 thousand, practically matching the forecast. We'll get a look at the official Nonfarm Employment Change report on Friday, with the markets expecting a strong reading of 231 thousand. If the indicator meets expectations, the US dollar could take advantage and post gains.
