US Markets were up for a 6th consecutive week with the prospect of a rate hike becoming increasingly likely, the date being earmarked by many as December 16th. Speculation of a rate hike has affected the Bond markets, with falls accelerating on Friday with a 10 base point fall on T-Bond.

Wall Street closed with a positive bias before the weekend, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.26%, the Nasdaq Composite up 0.38% after a string of record highs earlier during the trading week.

However, the S&P500 was held back by the energy sector and fell -0.03%. The power of the strong Dollar is being felt by the companies heavily weighed on commodities and oil in the index.

The Dollar was boosted even further by strong employment figures: the US economy reported more than expected in October.

Labor Department counted another 271,000 new non-farm jobs last month, reported on Friday, and beating the consensus which was expecting only 181,000.

The private sector generated 268,000 new jobs over the past month (including 57 000 in the health sector, only the mining sector suffered job losses). Furthermore, hourly wages increased by 0.4%, significantly beating expectations.

These figures released have added further weight to the likelihood of a rate hike in the coming weeks. Many traders seem to be hedging their bets towards this, and the power of the Dollar right now reflects that strong sentiment.

All eyes this week will be on the release of further employment figures in some of the major nations. The United Kingdom, USA and Australia are all reporting unemployment data this week, which could accelerate any momentum in the markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, in particular, seems intent on reaching the magical 18,000 mark again. Quite possibly it needs to test this level before any rate change happens. So moves could get quite volatile over the coming month.