Summary:

• European equities try to recoup some of yesterday’s losses

• USD advances as investors await April’s NFP report

• RIPPLE tests $0.90 handle

The USD concludes its big week in a good fashion with US Dollar index climbing over 1% since Monday. However, this is not the end of a story just yet as NFP report is scheduled for release in the early afternoon. In Europe major stock benchmarks post decent gains after yesterday’s heavy losses with the French CAC 40 being exception as it is dragged down by the banking sector. Japanese yen is the strongest currency in the G10 basket while NZD trades lower against all its major peers. Oil is inching higher while precious metals trade at discount.

The Ethiopian government has taken a friendly approach towards blockchain technology as of late. The country’s authorities have signed the memorandum of understanding with the crypto start-up Cardano. The cooperation between the two aims at introducing blockchain to the Ethiopian agritech industry.

According to some senior UK officials familiar with the matter the Brexit transition period may need to be extended and not just for a month or two but potentially even for years. In case Theresa May manages to convince its party members to withdraw Britain from the EU customs union preparation of the new set of rules may take time.

Antipodean currencies were top movers throughout the Asian session with AUD trading as a top G10 currency and NZD being the biggest underperformer. In Beijing the White House negotiation team finished the first day of trade talks with the Chinese officials with the outcome being rather positive according to some economists.

The USD big week is almost over with a last major reading to be released today. Today’s NFP report will once again be mainly about wages as investors will try to assess if there is an inflation pressure that may cause Fed bankers to lift rates four times this year.