The USD is mixed with a positive bias

As North American traders enter for the day, the CHF is the strongest and the NZD is the weakest. The USD is mixed with a positive bias the green back is near unchanged vs the EUR, JPY, CHF and CAD. The USD is strong vs the GBP, AUD and NZD. The US lawmakers agreed officially to the Covid relief package which will include:

  • $325 billion in business relief, including about $275 billion for another round of Paycheck Protection Program funding.
  • Extension of federal unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, which could start as early as Dec. 27.
  • $45 billion for transportation for state transportation departments inclusive of Amtrak
  • $82 billion for schools
  • $20 billion for vaccine distribution
  • $13 billion for food stamps.
  • Direct payments of $600 to Americans who earned less than $75,000 in the preceding tax year.

The Brexit negotiations continue with the focus on a compromise on fisheries. The GBPUSD is lower, but only modestly lower.

The USD is mixed with a positive bias

The ranges and changes are the EUR, JPY, CHF and CAD are all within a few pips of unchanged with modest ranges. The GBPUSD, AUDUSD and NZDUSD are all lower (and have been lower for most of the day) but are also off the day's lowest levels.

The ranges and changes for the major currency pairs

In other markets, the morning snapshot shows:

  • Spot gold is trading near unchanged on the day at $1876.44
  • Spot silver is trading down -$0.15 or -0.60% at $26.01
  • WTI crude oil futures down $0.68 or -1.42% at $47.29
  • Bitcoin on Coinbase is trading near unchanged on the day at $23162. The high reached $23390. The low extended to $22390.

IN the premarket for US stocks, the futures are modestly higher

  • Dow, is up for .55 points after rising 37.4 point yesterday
  • NASDAQ index up 66 points after declining -13.122 points yesterday
  • S&P index, up 9 points after declining -14.49 point yesterday

In the European equity markets, the major indices are recovering some of the declines from yesterday's trading

  • German DAX, +1.13%
  • France's CAC, +1.0%
  • UK's FTSE 100, +0.36%
  • Spain's Ibex, +0.98%
  • Italy's FTSE MIB, +1.1%

In the US debt market, yields are modestly lower (less than a basis point across the board):

US yields are lower

In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are marginally higher:

European yields are mostly higher