The United States isn’t the only country that releases a monthly jobs report. Most major nations do this, and they can help you to get a jumpstart in your Forex trading. They are solid, hard pieces of data that have a real impact. Just as the U.S. government’s release of jobs data affects the stock markets, when a country releases job and unemployment data, the world reacts to this information. Sometimes the data is exactly what’s expected, sometimes it’s a surprise. For Forex traders, this means a chance to make even more money by having superior information.
Let’s look at the Australian dollar as an example. Job data for May is a good indicator of the health of the nation. It was expected that the data would stay flat with an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent sitting consistently from the month before. The most current data was much better than expected at 6.0 percent, although there is some debate over whether or not this is actually accurate. Apparently, there were indications of unprecedented growth in some areas of the country, and the data is being called into question. The numbers appeared to be too good to be true by some. Regardless, the immediate impact upon Australia was a good one.
A lot happens with the Reserve Bank of Australia (just like with the Fed) on a monthly basis. In a June 2nd meeting, for example, it was decided that the interest rate would remain at a steady 2.00 percent after being cut the month before from 2.25 percent. This was meant to encourage non-mining businesses to expand. Mining, particularly gold mining, is a huge industry in Australia, and when other businesses outside this sector thrive, the economy as a whole does too.
With so many positive factors going on in Australia, it would be hard to see a currency going against it. However, history shows that these sort of factor do not have huge impact on the relationship between the AUD and the U.S. dollar. At least, this is how things have gone right after the release of a report. However, that doesn’t mean that the pair will not react. The volatility may be low, but there must be some sort of influence. This is one reason why binary options trading is a strong method when approach the AUD/USD. The change might only be small, but it’s usually very predictable. Good news out of Australia with simultaneous neutral or bad news out of the U.S. will drive the AUD up, and the USD down by comparison. If you are not strong with following the technical indicators fundamental data like this can be used to your benefit as long as you are aware of the trends behind it. Timing is key here, and following how past data has played out will set you up for success.
No matter how you trade this data, make sure that you are getting it quickly. Subscribe to news services and keep track of economic events with a calendar, either an online one, or one created by you. There are plenty of public calendars online that are automatically updated, and some can even be customized to allow you to see just the most pertinent data in regards to how and what you trade. News feeds are a little bit more difficult. These usually include subscribing to a service and downloading software that will allow information to stream right to your computer desktop. Still, both are worthy of your time so that you can prepare for and stay on top of the latest global information and get an edge in your trading.