Currencies
EUR/USD – was moving steadily up until reports came out that that ECB could be expanding its QE even further if the economy will slow down further, which caused for immediate downside in the EUR.
USD/JPY – is moving down and is on track to mark the first weekly decline since October as we also see the USD weaken a little bit after a very long and strong run.
GBP/USD – reached the lowest level since the beginning of November as we that the support at the 1.23 level was unable to hold this time. This doesn’t come as a big surprise as we have seen some serious downside in the GBP over the last days and nothing fundamental changed. Today we have the GDP data out of the UK, which might cause for more volatility. Consumer confidence in the UK is dropping as people are starting to get more pessimistic on the outlook of the economy as they fear the repercussions of the Brexit and also on the rising inflation.
USD/CAD – is moving up again and is getting close to the resistance just below the 1.354 level.
Bitcoin – so yesterday we marked a 100% rise of Bitcoin in 2016 and since then we have simply continued to soar higher. This week alone Bitcoin added $100 to its value and is currently trading at the highest level since January 2014.
Indices
China A50 – resumed its drop after 1 day of moving up on Wednesday, as President Elect Trump tweeted that he wants to strengthen the nuclear arsenal of the US, which is likely to keep tensions with China high. In addition China condemned his choice of Peter Navarro to head the trade council.
S&P 500 – moved down as profit taking is likely to be the main reason for this ahead of the holidays.
Commodities
Gold – is moving up a little bit as the USD is retreating slightly. Technically we are seeing that we are nearing the end of the triangle we can expect another large move in the near future.
Oil – rose sharply when the US started to wake up, but in the hours thereafter it was able to move down and erase most of these gains to close slightly higher. Part of the gains were due to stronger US data which also showed the economy growing at a good pace which usually leads to an increased demand for oil. However, later on data was weaker again, so we are still in a waiting pattern at the moment as the deciding factors will be the production numbers from OPEC and non-OPEC countries for December, but especially for January to see if they are indeed complying with the agreement to cut production.
Stocks
Barclays (LON:BARC) – the US Department of Justice is suing the company for causing major losses for investors as it extended loans and mortgages without making sure they were able to get repaid.
Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) – reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to settle a case for $7.2 billion in a similar case as of that of Barclays. This is much lower than the original $14 billion the US Department of Justice was seeking.