By Darrell Martin
Whether you trade the news reports as they are released or not, it is important to be aware of the news when you are trading.
If you are not aware of what is happening, you might find yourself wondering why all the indices are plummeting or why the EUR/USD just leaped through three deviation levels! If you know what is coming up, you can better plan your trading day.
On Thursday, February 5, 2015, the U.S. has several reports that they will release at 8:30 a.m ET. These reports may have an effect on the markets you are trading.
The four that may have the most importance are the Preliminary Nonfarm Productivity, Preliminary Unit Labor Costs, Trade Balance and Initial Jobless Claims Reports. If any of these reports show a higher than expected reading, it should be regarded as positive for the USD side of your trade. If the report comes in lower than expected, the opposite would be the case.
The report that measures the change in how effectively non-farm goods and services are produced is the Nonfarm Productivity Report. Did you know that productivity and labor-related inflation are directly linked?
A drop in a worker’s productivity is equivalent to a rise in their wage. The previous reading for this report was 2.3 percent. Thursday’s forecast is 0.5 percent.
Unit Labor Cost is a leading indicator of consumer inflation as it shows the change in the price businesses pay for labor not including farming. The last report was -1.0 percent. This month’s forecast is 1.0 percent.
When you want to know the difference in the value between imported and exported goods and services, you would look at the Trade Balance Report.
A negative number means that more goods and services were imported than exported, which is what the numbers appear to be reflecting here. Last report was -39.00 Billion, and the forecast for this month is slightly lower at -38.00 Billion.
The final report is the Initial Jobless Claims. This is one that you don’t actually trade, but be aware that it is being released at the same time as the others.
This is the number of people in the U.S. who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week. It is the earliest U.S. economic data. The way it impacts the market varies from week to week. The previous reading was 265,000. The forecast is 290,000.
To trade all of these news reports, look for an Iron Condor on the EUR/USD using Nadex Spreads.
You can enter as early as 8:00 a.m. EST with an expiration time of 10:00 a.m. This type of trade usually moves one way or the other and then settles, so that expiration time should give your trade the time it needs to make the minimum profit of $30.
Buy a lower spread and sell an upper spread with the ceiling of the lower spread equal to the floor of the upper spread. For a more detailed article on how to place an Iron Condor trade, see Iron Condors For News Trades.
Apex Investing Institute offers a weekly news plan to help you in your trading. To see all that Apex offers, go to www.apexinvesting.com. Apex Investing Institute offers free education and free access to the Nadex Binary and Spread Scanner Analyzers. Member traders are invited to trade in the chat rooms, take advantage of trade signal services, use key indicators and access the Apex Forum. The forum content is updated daily and includes over 10,000 members. In a supportive learning community of seasoned as well as up and coming traders, traders of all levels learn how to trade Nadex binaries and spreads in depth, as well as futures, forex, stock and options, and gain an edge for successful