Kayaking in the Cook Islands, 2019: Photo by H. Becker
Outside China, Asian stock markets are pushing higher today despite dashed hopes of more stimulus from the US Congress, and some of the worst days in Europe for new COVID-19 infections and deaths, let alone the out of control pandemic in the US. Bitcoin has broken down after being relatively steady above the $19200 level, off by nearly $1000 so far, while gold has fallen back slightly to waver around the pre-breakdown level at $1860USD per ounce:
The Shanghai Composite is sell off sharply going into the close, down nearly 0.5% to 3395 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is going the other way, up nearly 1% to 26561 points. Japanese stock markets is also moving again, with the Nikkei 225 finishing nearly 1.3% higher to 26800 points while the USDJPY pair is stabilising just above the 104 handle:
The ASX200 was the relative laggard, up only 0.6% but still a solid session to finish back above the 6700 points at 6728, while the Australian dollar has lifted strongly, boosting well above the 74 handle and ready to tackle the previous session high at the 74.50 level:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are pushing higher again with momentum still nicely overbought on the four hourly chart of the S&P500 as it wants to make more and more historical highs:
The economic calendar includes some German trade figures, followed by EIA oil data for November with a few Treasury auctions to keep an eye out on.