- BoE December Interest Rate Meeting hike 0.25 %vs 0.10% expected.
- SNB leaves rates unchanged at -0.75%
- UK December final manufacturing final PMI 57.6 vs 57.6 expected
- XAUUSD technicals & seasonals align
- NZDJPY: Markets find relief from twin fears of Omicron and Fed
- Trading tips: What is seasonal trading ?
- CBRT cuts by 100BPS as expected
- Prospect of less hawkish than feared Fed boosts risks appetite
- EURNZD: Ready to tumble out of the ECB meet?
- BoE has been privy to the latest PMI prints prior to today
- FOMC helped Cryptos to hold important levels
- SNB Jordan: we care a lot about the CHF level
- Eurozone December final services PMI 53.3 vs 54.1
- Germany December final manufacturing PMI 57.9 vs 56.8 expected
- France December final manufacturing PMI 54.9 vs 55.5 expected
- DXY falling towards 96.00 after the Fed meeting & Europe up at the cash open
- Evergrande to face claims totalling $13 billion from Chinese creditors
- Japan detects first case of community spread Omicron variant
- Equities rally on Fed relief
- USDTRY: A case study in why central banks should be independent
- AUD, NZD strongest and USD, JPY the weakest
Other markets
The session begun with a firm risk on tone as markets took the view that yes, the Fed put in one extra rate hike, but the medium term view was pretty much unchanged. Inflation was expected to be transitory, the terminal rate was unchanged, and the Fed can pause between the end of taper (march now) and interest rate hikes. So, the meeting in balance was not as hawkish as feared and that allowed a ‘buy the rumour, sell the fact response’ with the USD being well bid into the weeks heading up to the FOMC. The fast taper had already been signalled by Powell and he still saw inflation as transitory. This keeps the Santa rally alive and the USD weak which supported gold, silver and platinum.
Today’s session was always going to be about the central banks with the BoE, SNB, and ECB all meeting. Before then we had a series of disappointing PMI readings from Europe and the UK. All a disappointment, but none a surprise. COVID cases are surging again in the UK and European cases are high too. However, despite this the Bank of England hiked interest rates. Their concern must by that the surge higher in wages this week runs the risk of creating systemic inflation regardless of its cause.
Next up will be the ECB meeting in an action packed day - don’t go away!
