Pound and Bitcoin steal the show, stocks on the rise

Summary:

British pound and Bitcoin have been by far the most notable markets thus far
European stock markets hold onto gains except FTSE100 (UK100 on xStation5)
Oil prices move slightly lower as investors impatiently await the OPEC meeting

Today’s session has been dominated mostly by developments seen in the UK as well as Bitcoin which is constantly trying to touch $11,000. Beginning with the FX market we could notice that the GBP has been the best performer as of yet being up 0.4% against the greenback. The main and the sole cause is a would-be agreement of the UK side to pay a so-called Brexit divorce bill. In turn, the US currency is treading water after making a gain on Tuesday following passage of the tax bill by the Senate Budget Committee.

The cryptocurrency mania continued overnight when the Bitcoin price crossed $10,000 for the first time ever. Let us remind that this outstanding move was initiated over the weekend after the South Korean bank announced that it was testing Bitcoin-based wallets. Since then, Bitcoin has risen more than $2,000 setting its new all-time high at $10,830. Besides, a notable increase was seen on Litecoin during the Asian session as well as it managed to breach $100 for the first time in history but it declined to some extent. In turn other digital currencies such as Ethereum (ETHUSD), Dash (DSHUSD) and Ripple (XRPUSD) were much less volatile.

Looking at the commodity market there have been no substantial moves so far as everybody seems to impatiently wait for the OPEC meeting which takes place tomorrow. At the time of writing both WTI and Brent are slightly falling while gold and silver are unchanged on the day. The European stock markets are m uch more livelier gaining noticeably so far being propped up by upbeat sentiment seen across the pond. As for now the DE30 is rising almost 1% while its major peers are not far away. On the other hand the British UK100 is sliding 0.5% possibly on the back of the stronger pound.

The Swedish currency got two contrary macroeconomic releases illustrating better consumer confidence on the one side and slower than forecast economic growth on the other one. By and large we could sum up that the breakdown of GDP in the third quarter was promising, however the real estate could pose the largest source of risks going forward.

Preliminary CPI prints from Germany should be the key event for forex traders as lack of imminent inflationary pressure refrains ECB from tightening its monetary policy and keeps market rates subdued. Moreover, the DoE’s report on the US inventories will be the last important release ahead of OPEC meeting. The rest of the Wednesday’s calendar is also interesting as we get the second GDP reading from the US as well as Fed’s Yellen and BoE’s Carney are scheduled to speak in the afternoon.