The currency markets were quiet again Monday. Currency values have been moving sideways for the last week since the French first round voting saw the establishment candidates vanquished. The biggest feature in financial markets over the last week has been the weakness in the gold market. The value of gold has declined over forty dollars over the last seven days.
Two big events will hold investor interest for the next seven days. The first comes on Friday with the U.S. employment report for April. Analysts’ guesses for new jobs average about 180,000. The last report (for March) was weak so there is some worry that this report may also be weak. The second big event will be the second round of voting to choose the next leader of France. So far Macron (pro EU) is in the lead over LePen (anti EU). The final voting will be on Sunday May 7. By far the event with the most potential to disrupt financial markets will be the French election.