Summary:
- European stocks turn into the red despite a promising opening
- The US dollar retreats ahead of CB consumer confidence data
- Oil prices partly erase earlier gains, cryptocurrencies try to recover
It was a quite busy morning as European stocks gave up initial gains. Moreover, oil prices erased part of the latest increases but they were still traded close to 2015 highs. Cryptocurrencies rebounded after a steep slump from the end of last week. As far as currencies are concerned, the US dollar was the weakest in G10 group awaiting CB consumer confidence data.
The opening of the European session showed an upbeat mood. However, all the major benchmarks from the Old Continent are losing as of time of writing. No important data releases from Europe are scheduled for today, therefore, we might expect calm session. The indices turned into the red with technology stocks leading the decline after a cut of iPhone X shipment projections. At noon German DAX (DE30) slides by 0.31% and French CAC40 (FRA40) by 0.18%. On flip side, UK FTSE100 (UK100) moves 0.15% higher.
Oil prices have had a solid start to the week. Oil WTI touched $60 mark, whilst Brent (OIL on xStation) surged above $66 – the highest levels since 2015. The main reason standing behind this rally was a news of an explosion on a Libyan crude pipeline. Armed assailants blew up the installations cutting Libya’s output by up to 100k bpd. However, these disruptions could be just temporary thus, oil partly erased earlier gains – Brent and WTI are sliding over 1% as of time of writing.
When it comes to currencies, it’s worth noting that the US dollar was under the selling pressure being the weakest currency amid G10 peers thi morning. USD has been sliding despite the passage of tax bill and Fed rate hike earlier in December. Perhaps, the release of CB consumer confidence data could give it some support today.
Cryptocurrencies experienced a really wild ride just before Chrismas. The scale of moves was impressive, especially when it comes to Bitcoin, even despite the fact the volatility on such instruments is usually larger than on traditional markets. However, the most popular virtual currency is not a top-mover today. Ripple (XRPUSD) and Dash (DSHUSD) were in the lead this morning as there had been reports that they could be added by Coinbase, one of the biggest digital currency exchanges based in the US.
With just three trading days remaining until year-end, trading volumes remain light but market participants look to a few interesting events this week. Investors should in particular focus on the US consumer confidence data and API report on crude oil stocks today. Beyond Wednesday, the preliminary inflation data from European countries come into play on Friday.