Themes

• General mood is “risk off”
• U.S. Initial Claims slightly better than expected at 222k from 238k talk
• U.S. House avoids shutdown by approving funding through February

What’s Moving

Fed’s Biden dropped the word “transitory” when speaking about inflation overnight, implying that he was a little more concerned about it than previously.

This, combined with the announcement of four more U.S. cases of Covid Omicron saw the dollar slightly firmer, but still within recent ranges.

OPEC+ met overnight and decided to keep their production targets intact. Initially this saw oil prices weaker, before they bounced back strongly into the close.

Thoughts

Well, its Friday, Asia and just three weeks to Christmas. So don’t expect major moves in our time today. Having said that, there are a swag of Fed speakers late in Asia and the Chinese Caixin Services PMI (E: 52.6) is expected to be released.

Tonight sees Canadian and U.S. Employment figures, so expect most to sit on their hands until then.

Pivot Points