Themes

• General mood is “risk off”
• US President Biden: No more March 2020 style lockdowns

What’s Moving

After three straight sessions of losses on U.S. equities the market bounced back strongly as President Biden announced his plan to combat the Omicron virus. In addition to a guarantee of no more lockdowns, Biden also announced 500 million free at-home Covid test kits and his plan for increasing the booster shot roll out.

Currencies saw a general Dollar strength bias, with the best gains seen against the JPY. This was prompted by Biden’s strong comments against Omicron and on talks that his Build Back Better package will be voted on in January.

Crude oil was slightly firmer, while gold dipped back slightly on the day.

Thoughts

The only release of note in Asia today is the Japanese Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes, which should have little impact on trading, as Japanese officials have been very clear about their thoughts on the economy.

Tonight sees:

• U.K. Current Account (E: -15.8bln)
• U.K. GDP (E: 1.3%)
• U.S. Final GDP (E: 2.1%)

Pivot Points