Financial markets around the globe are eagerly waiting for the last US Nonfarm Payrolls report of 2017, which will be published on Friday, December 8 at 12:30.

NFP will be accompanied by the Unemployment Rate and Average Hourly Earnings data as usual.

2017 Performance of Nonfarm Payrolls

The US Nonfarm Payrolls showed a mixed performance throughout the year.

While it started Q1 in an uptrend, it experienced ups and downs until the last quarter. To date in Q4, NFP considerably underperformed.

2017 Performance of Unemployment Rate

Donald Trump’s presidency has been favourable for the unemployment rate in the US throughout 2017.

After starting at 4.7% and increasing to 4.8% in the Q1, the unemployment rate entered a strong downtrend in Q2, slowed down in Q3 and dropped as low as 4.1% in November.

2017 Performance of Average Hourly Earnings

While the unemployment rate has been performing well, the pace of increase in employee earnings did not perform the same.

The changes were usually as expected or below expectations. The only notable changes were in January and October, 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.

Will the U.S. job market manage to end the year at a high note?

Instruments to Watch

1. USD as well as GBP, EUR and JPY – major trade partners of the US.
2. Gold, Platinum and Oil – major commodities traded against USD.
3. Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ – major indices that track the performance of the US private sector.