November 22, 2017. The USD is mostly lower.
As North American traders enter for the day, the JPY is strongest while the GBP is the weakest. Like yesterday, on a relative basis the skew between the strongest and the weakest is fairly narrow. So there can be a jockeying of positions during the trading day. The GBP is just making a push to new session lows as the OBR cuts growth forecasts.
The USD is more negative - being lower against all the majors with the exception of the GBP and the AUD (barely).
The ranges for the day are all narrow in relation to the 22 day averages indicative of a market which is unsure of direction. It is also a big holiday week in the US with Thanksgiving tomorrow. Traders in the US will tend to extend the weekend by taking Friday off as well and take off early today.
Before they leave, however, there will be some economic data with durable goods orders and jobless claims (a day early) at 8:30 AM ET/1330 GMT. The expectations is 0.3% for the headline. The Ex Trans is 0.5% est and the Cap goods shipments nondef ex air is 0.3%.
At 10 AM ET/1500 GMT, The final U of Michigan consumer confidence will be released with expectations of 98.0 vs 97.8.
In other markets, the snapshot shows:
- Spot gold is up $4 or +0.31% at 1284.52.
- WTI crude oil is up $1.05 or 1.87% at $57.88
- US yields are a bit higher with the yield curve steepening a bit (for a change). 2 year 1.759%, down -1.1 bp. 5 year 2.098%, unchanged. 10 year 2.368%, up 1.2 bp. 30 year 2.783%, up 2.6 bp
- US stocks in pre-market trading are a litte higher. S&P up 3 points. Nasdaq future up 8.5 points. Dow futures are up 48 points
- European 10 year yields are little changed. Germany 0.358%, up 0.7 bp. France 0.675%, unchanged. UK 1.27%, unchanged. Spain 1.463%, down 1.5 bp. Italy 1.777%, unchanged. Portugal 1.908%, down 1 bp
- European stocks are mostly higher. Germany DAX unchanged. France CAC+0.3%. UK FTSE +0.6. Spain Ibex +0.8%. Italy FTSE MIB +0.6%. Portugal PSI20 +0.6%
