Political and economic news is a powerful source of fluctuations in global financial markets. Even rumors about such events as dropping interest rates of central banks, lawsuits of governments, and large corporations, a sharp rise of inflation and unemployment, or worsening of the international situation invariably cause indignation on exchanges.

The Central Bank (CB) of any country is the most important market participant for that country´s currency. The Central Bank officials, with their president/chairman at the top, hold the monopoly for the monetary policy of each country or economic zone. A perfect example of this being the Eurozone. They are the decisive factor for all long-term currency moves. Of course, there are other market participants in the forex market such as investors, speculators, hedge funds, second level banks etc., but they usually drive the market in the short to mid-term.

While some traders rely on fundamental analysis and others on their technical skills, some are able to make a good living trading news events and economic releases alone. For the news trader, there is possibly no more important number than the Non-Farm Payrolls report which is released on the first Friday of each month.