- Congress Passes Tax Deal – from the Wall St Journal – Obama sign-off this afternoon
- Russia trying to cool the waters of the Korean Peninsula, calling in South Korean & US Ambassadors, in the light of new N Korea threats
- US November Leading Index +1.1%, the largest gain since March gave a slight bosst to an already bid USD
- IMF comments of EU contagion gave rise to some further bearish sentiment as further downgradings were mooted
- Portugal and Spain bond yields rise after Irish downgrade
- China Cracks Down on Shanghai Lending,
- Bank of Montreal in $4.1bn takeover bid, M&A activity touted as responsible for a bid tone in USD/CAD
- UK will not participate in the post-2013 permanent crisis mechanism
It was a Euro day: in fact a Euro DOWN day ! Most of the key news from the EU Summit was released in European time and the EUR/USD opened our session around 1.3265. It was supported on dips with good buying from the Middle East and later by ACB interest however heavy selling ensued following IMF comments after the Ireland downgrade which alluded to further contagion and possible similar treatment for Belgium, Greece and Spain. Stops were triggered below 1.32 and with hardly a pause the pair traded down to 1.3134, settling back late afternoon at 1.3174. Range 1.3358/1.3134
The EUR demise dragged EUR/JPY to 110.41, now trading just above at 110.55; EUR/GBP ranged 0.8552/0.8466 swinging with the fortunes of two heavy components as Cable also traded heavily throughout the session.
Cable ranged 1.5585/1.5455 and GBP/JPY closes130.20 near it’s 130.05 low and GBP/AUD hitting a new low with a strong A$ at 1.5679.
USD/JPY held well throughout the session and closes at 83.95 inspite of lower Treasury yields and USD/CHF ends the day at 0.9693 near a 0.9719 high. EUR/CHF found a new low at 1.2722 but closes 1.2772.
AUD/USD was the other resilient pair of the day holding well and closing at 0.9884
Equities have had a quieter day with S&P at 1243.60 and Gold has recovered from bearish couple of days to rebound to $1377.30 from a low $1364.90
