FinVizDow futures

Stock are lower and the dollar is surging in trading Tuesday.

Near 9:50 a.m. ET, the Dow was down about 186 points, the S&P 500 was down about 20 points, and the Nasdaq was down about 54 points. 

The dollar continues to surge following the rally on Friday when the jobs report showed better-than-expected employment growth. The Euro fell to as low as $ 1.0723 against the dollar, pushing below $ 1.08 for the first time in 11 years. 

The market is focused on the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing program that began this week. As Business Insider’s Mike Bird explains, this, combined with the expectation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, is putting pressure on the euro. Higher US interest rates increase demand for the dollar. According to the FT, economists are forecasting that the euro could fall to parity with the dollar this year.

European government bond yields also fell, and Germany’s 5-year note fell to a record low at -0.118%, according to Bloomberg. US treasury yields were also lower, with the benchmark 10-year note at 2.12%.

Gold rebounded after falling more than 2% in pre-market trading. The commodity fell nearly 3% on Friday, and according to Barclays, the strong US macroeconomic environment increases the downside risks for gold.

In economic data, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index inched up to 98.0 from 97.9 last month, missing the estimate of 98.9.

And at 10:00 a.m. ET, we’ll get more employment data when the Labor Department reports the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.