Asian trading was relatively active, but when all said and done the levels in early European trading are pretty similar to where we left off in North America Thursday, with EUR/USD marginally firmer at 1.2760 from around 1.2715 while USD/JPY at 99.65 is effectively unchanged. The JPY and USD strengthened initially in Asia on the back of a slumping Nikkei before giving back the gains as stocks recovered. The main focus for today is very much U.S. employment data this afternoon (13:30 GMT). Unemployment is expected to have risen to 6.3% in October from 6.1% in September, with the median forecast for non-farm payrolls calling for shrinkage of some 200k (which would be the biggest decline since March 2003.)