Headlines:
- Dollar comeback thwarted and back down it goes
- Bonds keep more bid after less hawkish Fed minutes
- ECB accounts: 75 bps rate hike was supported by a very large majority
- ECB's Makhlouf: Quite open to size of rate hike in December
- BOE's Ramsden: I expect that further increases to the bank rate are going to be required
- Germany November Ifo business climate index 86.3 vs 85.0 expected
- UK November CBI trends total orders -5 vs -8 expected
- Russia reaffirms that it will not supply oil to countries supporting price cap
Markets:
- JPY leads, USD lags on the day
- European equities a touch higher
- Gold up 0.5% to $1,757.13
- WTI crude down 0.3% to $77.72
- Bitcoin up 0.2% to $16,509
It was a bit of a slow one in European trading today as the Thanksgiving holiday pretty much sapped the energy from markets in general.
That didn't stop the dollar slipping further though, with most of that coming in the form of a drop in USD/JPY. The pair fell from 139.00 to 138.10 and is lingering at the lows for the day now, down over 1%. The move comes amid a bid in bonds, with 10-year German bund yields marked down by 10 bps to 1.81% - after a less hawkish Fed yesterday.
With risk sentiment holding up, the pound and commodity currencies were decent gainers as well, though alternating between flattish moves and a slight advance during the session. GBP/USD is up 0.5% to 1.2120 and looking towards its 200-day moving average at 1.2189 as the dollar falters.
AUD/USD is up 0.4% to 0.6755, with buyers contesting last week's high and resistance at the 61.8 Fib retracement level at 0.6767.
Meanwhile, EUR/USD is keeping close to large option expiries at 1.0400 as buyers remain a little bit more tentative in keeping a break above its 200-day moving average at 1.0391 so far.
Thinner liquidity conditions will make it tough to navigate through things before the weekend but that is always the annual affair when it comes to the Turkey Day holiday. As mentioned before, the technicals are your best gauge in deciphering what is going on and that will be the case in the sessions ahead.
