A strange day for geo-politics as the US goes bananas – literally – which hasn’t upset risk markets as the certainty around a Biden administration becomes pretty clear. Bitcoin continues to surge, now above the “insert crazy level here” while gold is trying to recover from its overnight breakdown, up slightly but looking weak here at the $1920USD per ounce level:
The Shanghai Composite is falling going into the close, down 0.4% to 3535 points, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index has similarly slipped, down 0.5% to 27576 points. Japanese stock markets are finally finding some life with a big surge on both the TOPIX and the Nikkei 225, the latter up over 1.5% to finish at 27438 points all caused by a much lower Yen today as the USDJPY pair gets back above the 103 handle and previous key support at the December lows. The four hourly chart is looking like an inverse head and shoulders here, ready to burst higher:
The ASX200 finished above the 6700 point barrier by rising nearly 1.6% to 6712 points while the Australian dollar hovered just below the 78 handle, still looking a little listless but technically overbought at the top of its trend channel:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are elevated going into the European open as the political chaos in Washington is all but absorbed by risk markets. The four hourly chart of the S&P500 is ready to re-engage and go even higher from here, with the 3800 point level the next target above:
The economic calendar tonight includes the latest flash CPI print for the Euro area, plus initial jobless claims and then a few Fed speeches.