Morning wrap (04.11.2021)

• US indices hit record highs following FOMC decision yesterday. Dow Jones gained 0.29%, S&P 500 added 0.65%, Nasdaq jumped 1.04% and Russell 2000 rallied 1.80%

• Federal Reserve announced that it will reduce asset purchases starting from this month. Pace of tapering was set at $15 billion/month. Fed said that it is too soon to talk about rate hikes

• Stock market indices in Asia followed US peers and moved higher. Nikkei gained 0.9%, S&P/ASX 200 moved 0.5% higher and Kospi added 0.2%. Indices from China traded 0.7-1.4% higher

• DAX futures point to a higher opening of the European cash session

• Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of Bank of Japan, said that the Bank will continue with yield curve control even after pandemic ends

• Iranian nuclear talks will resume on November 29 in Vienna, Austria

• Japanese Trade Minister asked United States counterpart to remove tariffs on steel and aluminium

• Australian real retail sales dropped 4.4% QoQ in Q3 2021 (exp. -4.6% QoQ)

• Bitcoin trades near $62,500. Ethereum slightly pulled back from record high

• Precious metals and industrial metals gain while oil drops

• USD is the best performing major currencies while NZD and AUD lag the most

USD weakened after FOMC decision yesterday, allowing EURUSD to test 1.1610 area. However, greenback regained ground overnight and the pair erased all of post-FOMC gains. Source: xStation5