- European stock markets posted gains today after yesterday's waves of sell-offs. Germany's DAX gained 0.48%, France's CAC40 gained 0.52% and the Euro Stoxx 50 added 0.57%.
- On Wall Street, investor sentiment is more conservative. The indices themselves are trading without a common direction, with the Nasdaq losing 0.05%, the S&P500 gaining 0.12% and the Dow Jones adding 0.33%
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile app- At the moment, the best performing currencies in the broad FX market are the euro and the British pound. The Japanese yen and the Australian dollar are currently trading under pressure.
- The final S&P PMI readings from the US for December did not cause much of a surprise in the markets: The overall index came in marginally weaker at 50.9 versus 51 previously The final services PMI came in marginally better at 51.4 versus 51.3 previously
- US unemployment claims came in at 202,000 vs. 216,000 forecast and 218,000 previously
- The last indication (ADP and Challenger data) before tomorrow's NFP reading showed a contradictory picture of the US labor market. The ADP data, showing the change in US private sector employment for December came out at 164k vs. 125k forecast and 103k previously. The Challenger report showed a lower-than-expected number of layoffs (34.8k vs. 45.5k forecast).
- CPI data from Germany did not cause excessive market volatility. The data came out almost in line with expectations
PMI indicators for services for December
- Spain: 51.5 vs 51.1 expected (51.0 previously)
- Italy: 49.8 vs 49.8 expected (49.5 previously)
- France (final): 45.7 vs 44.3 at first publication (45.4 previously)
- Germany (final): 47.6 vs 48.4 in first publication (49.6 previously)
- Eurozone (final): 48.8 vs 48.1 in first publication (48.7 previously)
- Natgas isW currently gaining close to 4% and continues the powerful gains initiated at the beginning of the week. This significant price increase can be attributed to a multifaceted interplay of factors, including a decline in daily production and revised weather forecasts that point to cooler conditions in mid-January. The EIA released a report on US natural gas inventories. The market expected a drop of 42 billion cubic feet, compared to a drop of 87 billion previously. The report indicated a much smaller decline of 14 billion than forecast, wiping out some of the gains in gas.
- The EIA report was released today and was expected to show a decline in crude and gasoline inventories while distillate inventories rose. The report showed a stronger decline in crude stocks and a big surprise on the gasoline stocks side, which rose.
- Crude oil stocks: -5.5 million barrels vs -3.0 million forecast (API: -7.42 million barrels)
- Gasoline stocks: +10.9 million barrels vs -1.5 million forecasts
- Distillate stocks: +10.09 million barrels vs +1.3 million forecasts
- On an intraday basis, WTI crude oil loses more than 1%
- Cryptocurrencies are erasing some of yesterday's declines. in the spotlight is Bitcoin, which is climbing back above $44,000 after the avalanche liquidation of $150 million worth of long positions yesterday. The two largest cryptocurrencies gain more than 3%, as the market re-examines the chances of final SEC approval, for the creation of spot ETFs
