Brexit hope. Covid hope (stimulus and vaccine)
Last week saw the GBP fall sharply on Brexit fears. Today the GBP is the strongest as Brexit talks have been revived as EU/UK extended their negotiations (once again). That has the GBP as the strongest of the major currencies. In the US, stocks are set open higher as hopes for a bipartisan coronavirus relief package and vaccine relief spurs on safe haven sales out of the USD. It is the weakest of the majors in the North American morning snap shot
The ranges and changes are showing spikes in the GBP pairs. Looking at the pairs vs the USD, the dollar is trading near session lows vs each as North American traders enter for the day.
In other markets:
- spot gold is trading down $13.13 -0.71% at $1826.60.
- Spot silver is trading down $0.03 -0.13% of $23.91
- WTI crude oil futures are trading up $0.54 or $1.16 at $47.11
- Bitcoin on Coinbase (7 day week) is down $87 and $19,096 from the Sunday close but is up from $18100 on Friday (so up around $1000 from Friday).
In the premarket for US stocks, the futures are implying a higher opening:
- Dow industrial average up 230 points. It rose 47.11 points on Friday
- NASDAQ index up 45 points. It fell 27.93 points on Friday
- S&P index 25.5 points. It close down 4.64 points on Friday
in the European equity markets major indices are trading solidly higher:
- German DAX, +1.1%
- France's CAC, +1.0%
- UK's FTSE 100, +0.3%
- Spain's Ibex, +1.7%
- Italy's FTSE MIB, +1.1%
In the US debt market, yields are rebounding higher with the 10 year up about 3 point basis points. The yield curve is also steeper:
In the European debt market, the benchmark 10 year yields are mostly higher with the exception being the Italian yield which is down -0.5 basis points
