Summary:
- Oil gains after DOE inventories shows draw of 6.5M
- Stocks dip despite GOP tax bill progress
- Cryptocurrencies fall on latest Coinbase developments
- SEK pares gains after Riksbank meeting
- GBPUSD near weekly highs despite IMF’s UK warnings
- Attention turns to Catalan elections tomorrow
There’s been some gains seen in the oil price today after the weekly DOE inventories showed another large drawdown, with the latest release making it now 3 substantial declines in a row. The drop of 6.5M was larger than the -3.6M expected and also below the prior reading of 5.1M.
A long-awaited Tax Bill passed through the Senate with a 51-48 outcome yesterday. This vote was crucial as Republicans hold only a small majority in this chamber and there were some tough negotiations with few Senators who threatened to block the vote. Now the US Tax Bill will seek its final approval in the House of Representatives where the project will be reviewed in order to check whether it complies with the so-called Byrd rule. Despite this seemingly positive news the DE30 has filled the gap higher seen on Monday as is now negaitve on the week whilst the major US indices have pulled back from their record highs.
There has been a wide-spread sell-off across the major cryptocurrencies with Dash the only market in the green on the European close. Declines came on the heels of the Coinbase’s announcement claiming that it’s rolling out support for Bitcoin Cash.
The Swedish Krone has pulled back throughout the day after moving strong higher this morning. As widely expected the Swedish central bank chose to leave its main interest rate at the record low level -0.5% during its final monetary policy meeting this year. Major attention was paid to inflation forecasts, the details concerning the bond buying programme as well as changes in projected interest rates hikes.
t’s been quite a busy day for the UK in terms of news flow with several developments surrounding Brexit, comments from the IMF and Chancellor Hammond on the UK economy and also BoE Governor Carney testifying before a parliamentary committee. The GBPUSD has moved back above the 1.34 handle and trades not far from its highest levels of the week.
Regional parliament unilaterally declared an independence of Catalonia from Spain two months ago. In turn, the Spanish government triggered the Article 155 for the first time and called for a snap regional election in the rebelled region. The vote is held on Thursday in what could be a major event for the SPA35.