Themes

• General mood is “risk off”
• RBA Minutes largely ignored with no fresh information provided
• Little key data tonight, focus remains on Omicron

What’s Moving

Many were left shaking their heads today, with the tightest ranges seen all year in all of the majors, with no major data released in Asia today and ahead of year end. Most players are already square going into the new year and are looking for fresh incentives (which are not eventuating) to put new trades on.

The only think of note in Asia today was the RBA Minutes, but as these were largely as expected, they had little to no impact on the AUD. The Minutes showed that the Reserve bank had largely discussed the timing of the removal of the bond buying stimulus, with all options pointing to ending by May next year at the latest.  

Tonight’s session is difficult to forecast as well. With little on the data calendar, we are expecting Omicron to continue to dominate short-term trading flows.

Data tonight includes:

• Swiss Trade Balance (E: 1.38bln)
• German GFK Consumer Confidence (E: -2.6%)
• Canadian Retail Sales (E: 1.0%), and
• Eurozone Consumer Confidence (E: -8)