Equities rally pauses - 11.1.2021

The Dollar strengthening is intact today. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, closed 0.2% higher on Friday despite the US Labor Department report 140 thousand Americans lost jobs in December - the first loss in employment since April, though the unemployment remained at 6.7% when an uptick to 6.8% was expected.

GBP/USD ended flat while EUR/USD continued sliding Friday as industrial production in Germany in November fell 2.6% compared with November 2019, according to Destatis. Both Euro and Pound are lower against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY continued climbing Friday while AUD/USD continued sliding with the dynamics intact for both pairs currently.

Futures on US equity benchmarks are down currently after disappointing December jobs report Friday, showing the first loss in US employment since April. US equities ended at all-time highs though as President-elect Joe Biden pledged “trillions” in wide-ranging fiscal aid programs to support the US economy. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded gains from 0.1% to 1.0%.

European stock indexes are edging lower currently after logging the best week on Friday led by tech stocks as the Eurostat reported euro-zone unemployment unexpectedly declined in November to 8.3% from 8.4% in October. Asian indexes are mostly lower today led by Shanghai Composite after the New York Stock Exchange’s announcement Friday that it will delist three Chinese telecommunication giants to comply with an executive order signed by President Trump last year. Japanese markets are closed for Coming-of-Age Day holiday.