Daily summary: Strong Nike earnings lift Wall Street

• European indices finished today's session sharply higher, with Dax adding 1.54% as stocks tried to recover from a recent sell-off ahead of the holiday season.

• German consumer confidence improved slightly for a third straight month heading into January. 

• Wall Street rallies as well, with the Dow Jones adding 1.60%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 1.55 and 1.75% respectively as solid quarterly results from Nike and FedEx lifted market sentiment. 

• Tesla shares also advanced after Elon Musk announced he will resign as Twitter CEO once he finds a replacement

• On the data front, US existing home sales dropped more than anticipated in a sign high mortgage rates are weighing heavily on the housing market. In contrast, the CB consumer confidence topped estimates and inflation expectations eased further.

• WTI crude futures jumped over 2% to above $78 per barrel, extending gains for the third session after an EIA report showed a bigger-than-expected draw in US crude inventories.

• Precious metals pulled back from recent highs amid a stronger dollar. Gold trades around $1815 per ounce, while silver hovers slightly below key resistance at $24.00 per ounce. 

• The dollar index rose to 104.20 mark on Wednesday. USDCAD trades above $1.36 mark as fresh CPI figures showed inflation in Canada slowed less than expected in November. Money markets now see a nearly 40% chance the BoC will raise interest rates again in January. Currently AUD and CAD are the best performing currencies while GBP and NZD lag the most.

USDJPY pair rose slightly on Wednesday, however buyers failed to breach major resistance at 133.00, therefore main sentiment remains bearish. It seems that only a break above the upper limit of the local descending channel, would indicate a shift in market sentiment. Source: xStation5