The financial markets were rather mixed as December started. DJIA jumped to new record high at 19214.30 before closing up 68.35 pts, or 0.36%, at 19191.93. The rally in DJIA was mainly driven by financial and energy stocks. However, NASDAQ suffered -72.57 pts, or -1.36% decline to close at 5251.11 on weakness in the tech sector. That also dragged down S&P 500 by -7.73 pts, or -0.35%, at 2191.08. US treasury yields extended recent rise with 10 year yield topping 2.492, breaching 2.489 key resistance before closing at 2.441. That's still 0.073 pts gain in 10 year yield. However, Dollar turned cautious with the dollar index dipping as recent consolidation extends and is trading at 100.75 at the time of writing. WTI crude oil reached as high as 51.80 as boosted by OPEC's production cut and is trading firm above 50. Gold dipped to as low as 1162.2 and recovered back to 1179.8. Considering the number of key events ahead, the markets would take some more time to realign themselves.
US job data is the next focus for the time being. Non-farm payroll report is expected to grow 170k in November. Unemployment rate is expected to be unchanged at 4.9%. Average hourly earnings are expected to grow 0.2% mom. ADP report showed solid growth of 216k in private sector jobs, up from prior month's 119k. The 4 week moving average of initial claims dropped 6k to 252k in the week ended November 26, comparing to October 29. Employment component of ISM manufacturing stayed above 50 for the second month but dropped slightly to 52.3. Conference board consumer confidence also improved to 107.1, hitting a 9-year high. Judging from these data, NFP will likely be a solid report with room for an upside surprise. It should be noted that December Fed hike is almost like a done deal and market is looking beyond that. Fed fund futures are pricing in more that 50% chance of another hike by June and that would be the main driving force for Dollar.
Elsewhere, Japan monetary base rose 21.5% yoy in November. Australia retail sales rose 0.5% mom in October. Swiss will release Q3 GDP in European session. UK will release construction PMI. Eurozone will release PPI. Meanwhile, Canada employment and labor productivity will also be featured in US session. Referendum in Italy will be the major focus after NFP. More in Quick Guide to Italian Referendum on Senate Reform.