Markets coast into the weekend

Silent morning

There was very little to report from today’s Asian morning session, with markets certainly already having one eye on next week’s Christmas festivities. US indices edged back from record levels with the US30 index sliding 0.04% and the NAS100 index easing 0.08%.

Currency markets were also quiet, with AUD/USD rising 0.13% and GBP/USD gaining 0.11%, possibly facing the first up-day in four days. Consolidation and position-squaring looks to be the order of the day.

GBP/USD Daily Chart

Source: OANDA fxTrade

House passes USMCA pact

The House of Representatives approved the new North American trade deal last night and the deal now goes to the Senate. It’s not clear when the deal will be discussed since the Senate has to contend with the impeachment process first.

The new USMCA trade pact, which was first agreed on in September last year, is due to replace the original NAFTA set up in 1994. The new deal reportedly has tougher labour and automotive content rules, but leaves $1.2 trillion in annual US-Mexico-Canada trade flows largely unchanged.

Busiest data day of the week

Even though markets are quiet, we still have a packed data calendar today. The European session kicks off with Germany’s Gfk consumer confidence survey for January (a marginal uptick to 9.8 from 9.7 is expected) and then the final reading for the UK’s third quarter GDP growth (no adjustment expected).

There is also no changed expected to the US’ Q3 GDP growth numbers at the second revision. Personal income and spending numbers for November are also due along with the Michigan consumer sentiment index for November.

The full MarketPulse data calendar can be viewed at https://www.marketpulse.com/economic-events/

Have a great weekend.

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