Summary:
- US indices recover the bulk of recent declines
- USD lower after initial jobless claims rise
- Strong industrial production figures fail to boost the buck
- CAD moves higher after mixed data
- Bitcoin trades back near all-time high
- UK retail sales slump the most since 2013
There’s been a strong follow through seen in US stock indices this afternoon with a rally that began yesterday gaining traction and seeing the US500 recoup the majority of its recent declines. The market is now just a little more than 10 points from its all-time peak.
The US dollar is back under pressure after weekly initial jobless claims from the US showed an unexpected rise in coming in at 249k. This is significantly higher than the 235k consensus forecast and also higher than the prior reading of 239k. The release is also the highest in 6 weeks and the higher readings seen in late September and early October were likely due to the damage caused by the hurricanes.
Shortly after the employment data there was some positive data from the US with industrial production and the capacity utilization rate both beating forecasts. However this has not been enough to boost the buck and Gold has been rising this afternoon.
A technical overview of Gold can be found here.
Today marks the first ever ADP release from Canada with the debut reading coming in at -5.7k. The Canadian dollar has been rising despite this, aided by a stronger than expected manufacturing data point, and the USDCAD has retested a rising trendline from the early September lows and is now sitting at a potentially key level.
Cryptocurrency traders seem to be not worried about the latest debacle of a launch of SegWit2x and therefore they’ve rushed to buy Bitcoin anew which has lifted the price much higher. Notice that the most famous digital currency has already increased $1700 from its low reached during the past weekend.
Although UK retail sales managed to beat the estimates in a year-over-year basis the published numbers were not reassuring to say the least increasing a drag on household expenditure in the last quarter of the year. Despite this the pound is appreciating today and trades back near the 1.32 handle against the US dollar.