U.S. stocks are slightly in the red amid quiet trading conditions. Going into late-day trade on Wall Street, the DJIA DOW (-2), S&P 500 SPX (-1), and NASDAQ (-8) are all in negative territory. At this point, participation is modest, with political news grabbing a majority of the headlines.

Earlier today, the Speaker of the U.S. House Of Representatives Nancy Pelosi called for official articles of impeachment against President Trump to be written. Although expected, Pelosi’s timeline for impeachment appears to have been moved up significantly. Given today’s developments, we are likely to see the House vote to impeach Trump ahead of Christmas.

Of course, today’s events are no surprise to anyone that has followed the Trump impeachment saga. In fact, Trump himself chided House Democrats, urging them to “get on with it.” In other news, a few U.S. jobs numbers hit newswires during today’s premarket hours. Here is a quick look:

Event                                                                Actual       Projected    Previous

Continuing Jobless Claims (Nov. 22)           1.693M         1.650M        1.642M

Initial Jobless Claims (Nov. 29)                      203K              215K             213K

This batch of numbers paints a blurry picture of the current labor market. However, tomorrow’s jobs report for November will shed some light on the aggregate situation. U.S. Unemployment is expected to hold firm at 3.6%, with Non-Farm Payrolls growing to 180K. If the numbers hit their marks, both figures will be viewed as positive by traders of American stocks and the USD.

U.S. Stocks Pull Back, USD/JPY Falls

Safe-haven currencies have posted modest gains today, as shown by bearish action in the USD/JPY and USD/CHF. 

Here are the levels to watch for the remainder of the session:

• Resistance(1): Bollinger MP, 108.91
• Resistance(2): Daily SMA, 108.93

Overview: Going into tomorrow’s U.S. NFP, this week’s daily downtrend in the USD/JPY is alive and well. If we see a surprise negative jobs report Friday, then the downside to November’s Low at 107.88 is wide open. For now, a bearish bias is warranted until we see rates break above the Daily SMA and Bollinger MP.