1. U.S. NFP jobs report out soon

America is getting one of its last checkups before the presidential election.

The U.S. Labor Department will release its September nonfarm payrolls (NFPs) report at 12:30GMT on Friday.

The data will help inform the Federal Reserve as it considers whether to hike interest rates later this year. It's also likely to play into campaign rhetoric.

Economists forecast that the economy added 175,000 jobs in September. That would be up from the 155,000 jobs gained in August.

If the report beats expectations, we might see the USD rises against other major currencies and the Gold plunging down. Stocks could rise as well in a case of a solid report.

2. GBP crashes further

Meanwhile in Britain, investors woke up to discover the pound suffered a mysterious flash crash during the wee hours of the night, plunging 6% to $1.18.

The currency quickly recovered most of its losses to trade around $1.24. The jury is still out on what triggered the brief episode, but computer trading algorithms likely played a role.

The pound was already under pressure because of worries that Britain is heading for a "hard" exit from the European Union. The currency is now down more than 16% since the U.K. voted in June to leave the bloc.

3. Global market overview and recap

U.S. stock futures are slipping lower ahead of the jobs report.

Trading was mixed in Europe, with Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 both down 0.7%. Britain's FTSE 100 continued its habit of posting gains while the pound falls. Multinationals listed on the index benefit from a weaker pound because they earn their profits abroad before converting them to sterling.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite posted a small gain, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Tokyo's Nikkei closed their final trading sessions of the week with losses of less than 1%.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq closed with losses of less than 0.2%, while the S&P 500 eked out a single point gain.

4. Oil holds steady $50

Crude futures continued the bullish trend Friday on the back of optimism over an eventual deal among major producers to curb or cut production and the surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories seen this week.

Black gold continued to move higher on the back of comments from Algerian energy minister Nouredine Boutarfa who said that OPEC could cut output beyond the amount considered at the end of September if it was needed.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 0.30% to $50.59 at 8:59GMT, while Brent oil traded up 0.21% to $52.62.