MARKET ANALYSIS

  Good afternoon traders. As the week approaches its end, we look back at these last five trading days with a focus on the events that had the most impact on the financial market.

  The week started relatively calm as investors await key central bank policy meetings and high-tier macroeconomic data releases in the next days. On Monday, October 30, investors focus turned mainly in Germany and Eurozone. According to Destatis the German economy shrank 0.1% over the quarter in the third quarter of 2023, compared with expectations of a 0.3% while the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), declined to 3.8% on a yearly basis in October from 4.5% in September.

  On Tuesday, October 31, the day kicked off with China’s PMI release which, unexpectedly, contracted in October, arriving at 49.5 when compared to the 50.2 expansion in September. In Japan, BOJ as expected, left unchanged the interest rate and the 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield target at -0.1% and 0%, respectively. Elsewhere, in Europe, Eurostat released the Eurozone Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) which rose at an annual pace of 2.9% in October, as against a 4.3% increase in September.    

  The Federal Reserve (Fed) decided, on Wednesday, November 1, to keep the fed fund target range unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%, which was in line with market expectations. Chair Jerome Powell's remarks did not contain any surprises and were similar to the one’s released in September. As for the other US data releases on Wednesday, the ADP employment report showed a modest increase in private payrolls by 113,000 while the JOLTS jobs opening data exceeded market consensus at 9.55 million.

  On Thursday, November 2, the main key announcement came from the UK. The Bank of England (BoE) kept its rate unchanged at 5.25%, a decision in line with market expectations. On the other side of the Atlantic, the US Department of Labor released the Initial Jobless Claims which rose to the highest level in seven weeks at 217k while Continuing Claims reached the highest since April.

  Finally, on Friday, November 3, the much-anticipated NFP report was released. Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in the US rose by 150,000 in October below the market expectation of 180,000 while the Unemployment Rate edged higher to 3.9% from 3.8% in the same period.

Have a lovely weekend and a nice week ahead.