French economy at 1.0-1.5% below pre-COVID levels in July – Bank of France survey

EUR/USD holds ground after five days of losses, trading around 1.1650 during the Asian hours on Friday. Traders remain cautious ahead of the US Nonfarm Payrolls report, which is expected to offer further insight into labor market conditions and the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook. December NFP is forecast to show job gains of 60,000, down from 64,000 in November.

GBP/USD remains under unabated selling pressure on Thursday, slipping to fresh three-day lows around 1.3415 in response to further improvement in the sentiment surrounding the Greenback ahead of Friday’s key NFP data.

Gold struggles to capitalize on the previous day's goodish move up from the vicinity of the $4,400 mark and attracts some sellers while defending $4,450 in the Asian session on Friday. The critical US employment details will offer more cues about the Fed's rate-cut path, which, in turn, will influence the US Dollar price dynamics and provide a fresh impetus to the non-yielding bullion. 

Yesterday’s data put the kybosh on the idea the Fed needs to cut rates fairly urgently to protect the labor market. The jobs component of the ISM services index was nicely over 50, and that rising JOLTS voluntary quits rate also points to no real heartache in labor.

Most years fade into the background as soon as a new one starts. Not 2025: a year of epochal shifts, in which the macroeconomy was the dog that did not bark. What to expect in 2026? The shocks of 2025 will not be undone, but neither will they be repeated.

Ripple is trading down for the third consecutive day on Thursday amid escalating volatility in the cyrptocurrency market. After peaking at $2.41 on Tuesday, its highest print since November 14 amid the early-year rally, XRP has quickly ran into aggressive profit-taking.