Economic calendar: Markets wait for key jobs reports

• US and Canada to release labour market report for April

• Oil rigs data due in the evening

• UK markets shut for holiday

Long-awaited Friday has finally come! Not because the weekend is approaching but because its jobs report day. Expected today's trading to be completely focused on the labour market report from North America, unless we see some major developments in Sino-US relations. US jobs report is expected to show a drop of 22 million jobs while Canadian report is forecast to show 4 million decline. Elsewhere, Baker Hughes data may be of note as the number of active rigs dropped significantly in the previous weeks.

Also keep in mind that liquidity during the European session may be thinner as UK traders will be off for holiday. 

1:15 pm BST - Canada, housing starts for April. Expected: 110k. Previous: 195.2k

1:30 pm BST - Canada, building permits for March. Expected: -20% YoY. Previous: -7.3% MoM

1:30 pm BST - US, NFP report for April.

• Nonfarm payrolls. Expected: -22000k. Previous: -701k

• Unemployment rate. Expected: 16%. Previous: 4.4%

• Hourly earnings. Expected: 3.3% YoY. Previous: 3.1% YoY

1:30 pm BST - Canada, jobs report for April.

• Employment change. Expected -4000k. Previous: -1010.7k

• Unemployment rate. Expected: 18%. Previous: 7.8%

6:00 pm BST - US, Baker Hughes oil rig count. Previous: 325

Central bankers' speeches

• 12:00 pm BST - ECB President Lagarde

Noteworthy earnings releases

• Exelon (EXC.US) - before market open