US Non-Farm Payrolls
How many jobs the US economy added last month, published alongside the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings. The most watched release on the calendar for dollar pairs — EUR/USD and USD/JPY routinely move on the headline and again when the revisions to earlier months are read.
US CPI Inflation
Consumer prices for the previous month, headline and core. Traders read it as the next clue to what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates, so a surprise in either direction tends to reprice the dollar against every major at once.
Federal Reserve Rate Decision
The decision, the statement, and a press conference half an hour later that often moves the market more than the decision itself. A currency is priced on where its interest rate is going, which is why this is the entry to know about before you hold a position through it.
ECB Rate Decision
The euro-area decision, followed by a press conference at 14:45. EUR/USD has two sides: it moves on what the ECB does just as much as on what the Fed does, and the two rarely move in step.
Bank of England Bank Rate
The decision plus the vote split. How many committee members wanted something else is often the part that moves GBP/USD and EUR/GBP, even when the rate itself is unchanged.
Euro Area Flash Inflation
An early estimate of euro-area consumer prices, published weeks before the final figure. Being first is what gives it weight — most of the reaction lands here rather than on the confirmation that follows.
US GDP, Advance Estimate
The first of three readings of how fast the US economy grew last quarter. It looks backwards, so it usually moves the dollar less than payrolls or CPI, but a large miss still shifts what the market expects from rates.
Bank of Japan Decision
There is no fixed release time, which is itself worth knowing — USD/JPY can move sharply while most of Europe is still asleep. Policy changes here are rarer than elsewhere, and correspondingly larger when they come.
Trading around a release
Educational content only — nothing here is investment advice or a forecast. Trading foreign exchange on leverage carries a high level of risk and can cost you more than your initial deposit.