During the session on Thursday, the Unemployment Claims announcement comes out of the United States along with the ISM Manufacturing PMI announcement. This is of course going to make this a very US centric day, but at the end of the day Friday features the Nonfarm Payroll numbers, and that of course will keep any reaction during the Thursday session somewhat muted.

1 – That being said, we feel that risk appetite should return to the markets fairly soon. Obviously, the jobs number will be a bit of an overhang during the session today, but we think that sooner or later stock market participants will get involved to the upside, as well currency traders.

2 – Having said that, the commodity currencies will probably be very soft, offering opportunities in the currency markets. Ultimately, this is a market that will continue to favor the US dollar safety, but only against the riskiest of currencies such as the Aussie, Kiwi, and similar commodity-based markets.

3 – Crude oil markets continue to find plenty of support just below, so pullbacks should continue to be short-term call buying opportunities. We believe that the market will eventually break out to the upside for a longer-term move, but it is apparent to us that the market just isn’t quite ready to do so yet.