Currencies tread water pre-payrolls...........>

FOREX: Currencies tread water pre-payrolls

-Realised vols for a number of G10 pairs hit multi-month highs this week, but

you wouldn't have guessed it from Friday morning's price action, with ranges

muted and volumes thin. This has allowed recent trends to extend, nudging

AUD/USD and NZD/USD to new recovery highs. At the other end of the scale, the

USD and GBP are slightly softer, but still sit at familiar levels.

-Equity and bond markets have taken their cue from currencies, with European

bourses picking up some modest support from the better Wall Street close

Thursday.

-The US payrolls report takes focus Friday, ahead of which the whisper has

slipped to contract lows following dire ISM releases over the past few days. The

whisper now sits at 124K, well below the 150K seen just a few weeks ago -

indicating the market may be positioning for a poor number. Outside of the NFP

report, Canadian August trade data is also due. Speeches from ECB's de Guindos,

Fed's Rosengren, Bostic and (most importantly) Powell are on the docket.