Day Trading Strategies for Dollar Index , Euro, Crude, Russell and Gold futures

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– European equities were higher led by commodities and banks as investors anticipate that US economy has added jobs in November. Another data to watch are the Canadian net change in unemployment also expected during US session. European economic calendar was quiet with the only  notable speaker being Merkel who reiterated her opposition towards Eurobonds and her commitment to more fiscal consolidation. While traders await for EU officials to finalize policies, their attention is now turned to the US economy.

– Euro/USD continues to trade below 1.35 ahead of US employment data.

– Italian yields decline sharply, equities in Italy outperform

– European banks rally on report that the EBA might not make its stress test requirements more strict.

– Chinese equities decline for 4th straight week.

– Following the General Strike on Wednesday, Sky News reported that the British High Court ruled the government pension changes are lawful. Over 1,000 rallies, and up to 2 million public sector workers protested against the government pension reforms. The strike efforts are seen as the biggest day of industrial action in 30 years. The wide spread strikes in 1979, know through the British media as the Winter of Discontent, were against the government’s attempt to freeze pay

– The 24-hour general strike in Greece concluded without any major violent outbreak. Although this was the first strike under the leadership of Prime Minister Papademos, the overall atmosphere was muted as Greece has been exhausted by more than a dozen general strikes in the last two years. Similar to prior strike themes, unions were protesting against the austerity measures by the government.

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Our day trading strategies today will depend on the news, and this morning all eyes are on the US Jobs data to be released at 830am EST today.  We begin our day with the grand-daddy of all the news event, Non Farm Payrolls at 830am EST. This news event is tough to trade for a few reasons.  First, since everyone watches this event the markets usually have already priced in the expected moves ahead of time, so expect slop and chop if the report comes out within expectations.  Second, there are numerous reports inside this report, such new jobs, hourly earnings, average work week, and the unemployment rate.  It can take the markets a long time to finally process all of this different news information at 830am so we expect to see the mark get very volatile and ‘whippy’ if the market is caught off guard by the news.  So, no matter what happens today we need to be patient after the 830am news comes out. It will either be as-expected and the market will chop sideways for 20 minutes and THEN move, or the report will come out outside of expectations and the markets will react violently so we need to sit on hands and wait for it to slow down a little before we jump in.  Non Farm Payrolls are one of the more challenging times to trade, so be patient, and remember we’ve had a great week, lets close it out with some high percentage trades today.

Once we get through 830am EST we will have the 930am EST US Open when we grab the Mini-Russell Futures and then head into the 1000am EST hour.  The volume should slow down this morning around 1030am EST, with higher risk trading occurring after 1100am EST with the weekend coming on quickly.  Most traders have been working like dogs all week at their desks, prepping for NFP news, so this is going to slow down quickly once those traders leave their desks on Friday late-morning.

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