Financial spread betting involves backing your judgement whether a financial instrument, be it an index or a currency (forex), is likely to go up or decrease in value in the future. 

When you spread bet on the financial markets you deal on margin, which enables you to take advantage of leverage, that is, by paying a lower initial deposit you are able to take a bigger position than you would if you were trading the physical instrument in the market.

As in day trading on the financial markets it’s important to know what kind of events will influence particular markets.

The first Friday of each month sees the US Bureau of Labor Statistics release the key non-farm payroll figures and they show the grand total of paid employees in the US, excluding certain seasonal sectors mainly farm workers.

Analysts were hoping that the July figures which came out on Friday 6 August would provide at least some encouragement that the recovery process was back on track after a palpable slowing over the last month or so.

The US economy shed 131,000 jobs in July, with the private sector adding 71,000 jobs. The two figures were worse than analysts were forecasting and traders reacted negatively. The Dow lost almost 1% in early trading but recovered slightly to end the day down 0.2%. Also the FTSE 100, which ended the Friday 20.4 points down.

However, sterling rose against a bruised dollar achieving a half-year high just short of $1.60.

If you’re interested in spread betting on the financial marketsthen a good place to start is with IG index who, according to a recent report by research organisation Investment Trends, is the largest financial spread betting company in the UK. Find out more at www.igindex.co.uk