Morning wrap (23.12.2020)

• US indices finished yesterday's session mixed. Dow Jones dropped 0.67%, S&P 500 finished 0.21% lower and Nasdaq gained 0.51%. Russell 2000 added 1.03%

• Gains can be spotted across stock exchanges in Asia-Pacific. S&P/ASX 200 gains 0.6%, Nikkei adds 0.3%, Kospi trades 1% higher and indices from China move higher

• DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of the European session

• Donald Trump refused to sign the economic relief bill. US President asked Congress to boost stimulus checks to $2,000 and remove unnecessary items

• Democrats expressed support for idea of $2,000 stimulus checks but it looks unlikely that Republicans will approve it

• President-elect Biden is considering using Defense Production Act to boost production of vaccines

• Japan banned entry of non-Japanese citizens traveling from the United Kingdom

• ITV reported that EU-UK trade deal could be reached today. However, other UK media reported that EU does not have much room to manoeuver on fishing rights

• API report pointed to a 2.7 mb increase in oil inventories

• Oil is trading lower while precious metals gain

• GBP and AUD are top performing major currencies while USD and CHF lag the most

Over 600 thousand new coronavirus cases were reported yesterday. Source: worldometers, XTB