Summary:

• Stock markets rise ahead of the earnings season launch

• Dollar gets second breath against euro

• US inflation figures to take spotlight later this week

Optimism on the global stock markets prevails with gains seen all over the globe. With today’s calendar being almost empty markets set for a quite calm session. EURUSD continues its slide from the 1.21 area. Stronger dollar weighs on the gold prices. WTI prices aim to retest $62 handle.

The US employment report appeared to be a non-event when it comes to larger volatility across the most traded currencies. Nonetheless, even as it came in vastly below forecasts the US dollar traders did not treat it as an incentive to pile up their shorts. As a result, the EURUSD fell back below a 1.20 handle and it could be just a stirring of a more severe pullback given what the positioning illustrates right now.

Looking across the most traded cryptocurrencies one may spot relative calmness except Ethereum which has already made another surge following a breakout of a $1,000 handle last week. The digital currency got a boost as investors recalled about some tests of Ethereum blockchain declared to be carried out by the most prominent banks.

European indices opened higher amid global optimism and the weaker euro. The last week was exceptionally good as far as the US stock markets are concerned as benchmarks from Wall Street were rising all along the line. S&P500 added 2.6% in the previous week marking the biggest weekly gain in more than a year.

The first hours of the new trading week passed outstandingly calmly as some Asian stocks were closed while the macroeconomic calendar during Asian hours was almost empty. We got just a reading on Australian construction PMI for December which turned out to be well below the prior one.

Economic calendar looks empty with no top-tier data left to be released today. However investors may want to stay cautious this week as ECB minutes are due to be published on Thursday and US inflation figures will kick in on Friday.