Today the economic calendar is quite busy with reports released from all over the world.
The round of publications began with Europe, where France, despite the recent worsening in the coronavirus situation, posted a higher than expected business confidence index of 96. In addition, the Ifo business climate report from Germany was higher than the last reading, but slightly below the forecast, coming in at 93.4.
There are also economic reports coming in from the European Central Bank, as well as the United Kingdom today, plus a speech by the Bank of England, which can reveal more details about the near future.
As today is Thursday, we also expect the latest jobless data from the United States in the form of initial and continuing jobless claims, which are expected to have decreased slightly compared to last week. There will be speeches by several Federal Reserve officers as well.
We expect the US stock market to be in recovery mode today, having shaken off the pessimism caused by the testimonies of Jerome Powell and Steve Mnuchin earlier this week.
In other news, investors’ market sentiment remains largely risk-off, which is boosting the dollar and other safety assets (except gold, which is quoted in USD and therefore needs to lower in price when the value of the dollar runs high). Currently the reserve currency is close to a two-month maximum versus the rest of the world’s major currencies.
The high valuation of the USD is also pressuring oil prices, which have sunk below the $40 level again. Other commodities are doing similarly.
Meanwhile, President Trump is laying the groundwork for more chaos in the United States as he continues to signal that he will challenge the legality of the election results if he loses the election (but not if he wins).
And while the US President is consumed by the upcoming vote, the streets of many United States cities are once again fired up by widespread riots after the court did not charge the police officers responsible for the murder of Breonna Taylor, a medical worker shot at her home earlier in 2020.
