Summary:

• Reports of a planned N.Korea missile launch send Gold higher and USD falling
• NFP comes in negative for first time since 2010
• CAD on the rise despite lower than expected Canadian employment change
• ECB considers legal restraints on Bitcoin

Several markets have reversed their earlier course heading into the weekend after rumours that N. Korea could test a missile capable of hitting the US over the weekend saw Gold spike higher and the US dollar come under pressure.  

These moves marked a fairly sharp reversal of the price action seen following the NFP report which had sent Gold falling to its lowest level since early August and the USD index back above 94. This reaction in itself was something of a surprise seeing as the headline NFP print fell into negative territory for the first time since October 2010, but upon closer inspection the report was arguably positive for the buck. Average earnings rose sharply and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since 2001 and when you consider that expectations were already low heading into the release, the report could be seen as supportive of the greenbacks recent rise.  

There were several similarities with the Canadian jobs data, which is released at the same time as the US but often overlooked. An employment change of +10k was below both the consensus forecast and the prior reading but as was the case with their southern neighbour, closer viewing revealed a report that was overall fairly positive for the jobs market. The important nuance for the Canadian release was the composition of jobs with full-time employment bouncing back strongly after a disastrous fall in August, whilst a sharp drop in part-time work meant the combined reading was mediocre if taken at face value. The Canadian dollar is higher across the board since the release.  

Elsewhere the cryptocurrency space has showed some further gains today with all 5 markets in the green at the time of writing. The gains come despite some comments form ECB’s Ewald Nowotny in which the Austrian banker said that the central bank is currently looking into regulating decentralised currencies.  According to some ECB’s officials Bitcoin is too volatile and lacks in regulatory supervision. Nowotny said simply that Bitcoin does not own the main feature that makes a good currency – stability.