Key Points:
US indices close in the red
DXY unchanged at 92.35
Brexit deal 95% done according to EU
Fridays US session was a mix of hope and disappointment in numerous areas with US fiscal stimulus still driving price. All major indices closed in the red but less than 1% whilst the Russell closed in the green. Fears of a further slowdown took the gloss off of a report that the White House intended to re-appropriate funds from other areas towards a stimulus package with Gold spiking towards 1980 but falling back into the close around 1870 whilst Crypto remained buoyant. In FX the USD traded sideways as US yields slipped with AUD and NZD largely unchanged and the CAD slipping despite a stronger retail sales on the back of tighter lockdown in the Toronto area. EUR remains in the mid 1.18’s but GBP caught a bid on news that the EU believe a deal is 95% done, but the finalisation is likely to take another 2 weeks. Headlines over the weekend pointed to a UK announcement that they could approve the Pfizer vaccine shortly with a possibility of receiving the first doses mid-December. With Johnson announcing that restrictions are likely to be relaxed over the Xmas week this could lead to complacency and a further spike of cases in January. In the US Trump decided to play golf instead of join a virtual pandemic meeting whilst the window of opportunity to reverse the election result seems to be closing as more states throw out his legal challenges. The week ahead will be disrupted by US Thanksgiving holiday Thursday and Friday but ahead of that we will get a good look at US economic data by way of preliminary GDP, durable goods and the weekly jobless claims being released on Wednesday due to the holiday. Plenty of Fedspeak in there too with the usual theme of fiscal stimulus being the next step. We start the week with European PMI data before US PMI later tonight. With Japan closed for a public holiday we are expecting a very subdued Asia session today.