After the Fed Powell triggered selloff yesterday, Dollar is trying to regain some ground in US session. Nevertheless, it’s underperforming both Yen and Aussie. Main focus will turn to minutes of November meeting later in the day. Of particular interest, everyone would like to see how “close” the current interest rate is to neutral, in policymakers mind. That is, did most FOMC members thought interest rates were now “just below” neutral? Or they believe it’s “long way from” neutral?
There are some rumors/reports flying around in European session, which don’t carry much significance. EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger was quoted by WiWo expecting US auto tariffs to come before Christmas. While Euro trade slightly below Dollar, Yen and Aussie, it’s up against all others. We can’t really say that Euro drops on tariff worries. (European Commission just denied the report)
Staying in the currency markets, Sterling is the weakest one for today as UK steps closer to parliamentary vote of the Brexit deal. Swiss Franc is the second weakest after data GDP Q3 GDP unexpectedly contracted. Canadian is the third weakest as WTI crude oil drops below 50.
In other markets, major European index trade slightly higher. At the time of writing:
- FTSE is up 0.39%
- DAX is up 0.19%
- CAC is up 0.44%
- German 10 year yield is down -0.0191 at 0.333
- Italian 10 year yield is down -0.0189 at 3.242. Spread stays below 300.
Earlier in Asia
- Nikkei rose 0.39% to 22262.60
- Singapore Strait Times rose 0.48% to 3109.44
- But Hong Kong HSI closed down -0.87% at 26451.03
- Shanghai SSE dropped -1.32% to 2567.44. It’s a factor still capping AUD/USD at around 0.7314 resistance.
