Foreign exchange market. European session: the euro traded higher against the U.S. dollar on comments by the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi

Economic calendar (GMT0):

(Time/ Region/ Event/ Period/ Previous/ Forecast/ Actual)

01:10 New Zealand RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler Speaks

01:30 China PPI y/y May -3.4% -3.3% -2.8%

01:30 China CPI y/y May 2.3% 2.3% 2.0%

05:30 France Non-Farm Payrolls (Finally) Quarter I 0.2% 0.2% 0.3%

05:45 Switzerland Unemployment Rate (non s.a.) May 3.5% 3.5% 3.3%

06:00 Germany Current Account April 29.9 Revised From 30.4 28.8

06:00 Germany Trade Balance (non s.a.), bln April 26.2 Revised From 26.0 25.6

06:00 Japan Prelim Machine Tool Orders, y/y May -26.4% -25.0%

07:00 Eurozone ECB President Mario Draghi Speaks

08:30 United Kingdom Total Trade Balance April -3.532 Revised From -3.83 -3.294

The U.S. dollar traded higher against the most major currencies ahead of the release of the U.S. economic data. The number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. is expected to rise by 3,000 to 270,000 last week.

Wholesale inventories in the U.S. are expected to rise 0.1% in April, after a 0.1% increase in February.

The euro traded higher against the U.S. dollar on comments by the European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. He said in a speech at the Brussels Economic Forum on Thursday that governments should implement structural reforms to support the central bank's stimulus measures.

"There are many understandable political reasons to delay structural reform, but there are few good economic ones. The cost of delay is simply too high," he said.

Destatis released its trade data for Germany on Thursday. Germany's trade surplus decreased to €25.6 billion in April from 26.2 in March. March's figure was revised up from a surplus of €26.0 billion. Exports were flat in April, while imports were down 0.2%.

The British pound traded lower against the U.S. dollar despite the positive trade data from the U.K. The U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS) released trade data for the U.K. on Thursday. The U.K. trade deficit in goods narrowed to £10.53 billion in April from £10.65 billion in March. March's figure was revised up from a deficit of £11.20 billion.

The decline in deficit was driven by a rise in good exports, which increased by £11.2 billion in April.

The total trade deficit, including services, narrowed to £3.29 billion in April from £3.53 billion in March. It was the lowest level since September 2015.

March's figure was revised up from a deficit of £3.83 billion.

The Canadian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar ahead of the release of the Canadian economic data. Canada's new housing price index is expected to rise 0.2% in April, after a 0.2% gain in March.

The Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is scheduled to speak at 15:15 GMT.

The Swiss franc traded lower against the U.S. dollar. The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs released its unemployment data for Switzerland on Thursday. The Swiss unemployment rate remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.5% in May.

On a seasonally unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate in Switzerland decreased to 3.3% from 3.5% in April. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 3.5%.

EUR/USD: the currency pair was down to $1.1329

GBP/USD: the currency pair declined to $1.4445

USD/JPY: the currency pair fell to Y106.24

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

12:30 Canada Capacity Utilization Rate Quarter I 81.1% 81.3%

12:30 Canada New Housing Price Index, MoM April 0.2% 0.2%

12:30 U.S. Continuing Jobless Claims May 2172 2171

12:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims June 267 270

14:00 U.S. Wholesale Inventories April 0.1% 0.1%

15:15 Canada BOC Gov Stephen Poloz Speaks