Due to Fed predictions and the economy’s resilience, the dollar remains stable; the yen anticipates a weekly climb

Asian stock market closes in green on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.46% at 3054.43. Overall, the Singapore MSCI is down 0.03% at 289.35. Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index is up 2.71% at 19679.22. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is up 0.46% at 26507.87. While the Topix index is up 0.78% at 1908.17 South Korea’s Kospi is up 0.42% at 2356.73. Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.53% at 7152.50.

Top News of the Day: –

The dollar was on the front foot on Friday as solid U.S. economic data reinforced the need for the Federal Reserve to stay on its aggressive monetary policy tightening path and further raised the odds of higher-for-longer rates.

The greenback gave back some of its gains in Asia trade after rising broadly overnight, although it hobbled against the Japanese yen, which continues to draw solid demand after the Bank of Japan’s surprise policy tweak earlier in the week.

Sterling rose 0.05% to $1.2043, after having slumped to a three-week trough of $1.1993 overnight.

The kiwi gained 0.38% to $0.62715, after falling 0.7% and similarly touching a three-week low on Thursday.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week, pointing to a still-tight labour market, data released on Thursday showed.

Market Summary as per 22/12/2022:

European equities Thursday closing. The DAX futures contract in Germany traded down 1.30% at 13914.07, CAC 40 futures down 0.95% at 6517.97. UK 100 futures contract in the U.K. down 0.37 at 7469.28

In the U.S. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Closed down 1.08% at 33016.52. The S&P 500 down 1.45% at 3822.14 and the Nasdaq 100 is down 2.54% at 10437.52, NYSE closes 0.91% down at 15081.53.

Top Market News Today:-

In the Forex market, GBPUSD up 0.09% at 1.2041. The USDJPY up 0.28% at 132.67, The USDCHF up 0.09 at 0.9317. EURUSD up 0.13% at 1.0605. EUR/GBP up 0.09% at 0.8809. The USD/CNY up 0.09% at 6.9890 at the time of writing.

In the Commodity market U.S. Gold futures up at 0.14% $1,794.93. Elsewhere, Silver futures up 0.31% at $23.63 per ounce, Platinum up 0.56% at $985.52. per ounce, and Palladium up 0.06% at $1681.00.

Brent Crude Oil up 1.47% at $82.20 per barrel.

In the Cryptocurrency Markets, Bitcoin at 16820.40 up at 0.03%, Ethereum up 0.29% at 1220.94, Litecoin at 66.03 down 0.23%, at the time of writing.

Top Market Segment to Watch Out Today:

OIL: – Oil prices rose more than $1 on Friday on expectations of a drop in Russian crude supply, which helped offset worries of a hit to U.S. transport fuel demand growth as a looming Arctic storm threatens travel during the holiday season.

Both contracts were on track to post a second weekly gain, with Brent up 3.3% and WTI up 5.4%.

Economic News:

US: – The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday will vote on a $1.66 trillion government funding bill that provides more money for Ukraine’s defence, restricts the Chinese-owned TikTok app and reforms presidential election certification, a top Democrat said.

About two hours after the Senate passed the measure funding the government through Sept. 30, No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer said the lower chamber would not take up the legislation until Friday morning as it performed some final legislative actions to pass it.

“As soon as we get the document … we will proceed as quickly as possible,” he said on the House floor.

The bill, which boosts annual funding from about $1.5 trillion, would provide Ukraine with $44.9 billion in wartime aid and bans the use of Chinese-owned social media app TikTok on federal government devices.

Progress had slowed after conservative Republican Senator Mike Lee introduced an amendment meant to slow immigration on Wednesday night.

That move prompted Democrats to put forward a competing amendment that would boost funding for various law enforcement agencies that operate on the border.

Both amendments failed, which in practice allowed lawmakers to move forward with the overall package.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who is retiring after nearly five decades in the Senate, praised the bipartisan support for the measure following months of negotiations.

Lee’s amendment would have required the United States to maintain a policy known as Title 42, implemented under Republican former President Donald Trump at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented hundreds of thousands of immigrants from seeking asylum. It grants border officials the ability to rapidly expel migrants to Mexico without a chance to seek asylum during public health emergencies.

The policy was set to expire earlier in the week, but the Supreme Court put the brakes on Title 42’s end, as it considers litigation brought by Republican-led states.

Euro Zone: –

The European Commission said on Thursday it would hold back all 22 billion euros of EU cohesion funds for Hungary until its government meets conditions related to judiciary independence, academic freedoms, LGBTQI rights and the asylum system.

EU institutions had already decided on Dec. 12 to freeze 6.3 billion euros of the funds until the right-wing and Eurosceptic government of Viktor Orban meets an even tougher set of 17 conditions also linked to the judiciary and dealing with corruption at high levels.

The 22 billion euros is the amount of EU cohesion funds that Hungary is to get from the EU’s long-term budget between 2021 and 2027. They are transfers from the EU meant to equalise the standards of living between the richest and poorest members of the 27-nation EU, paid out mainly as reimbursements for money spent on agreed goals by individual governments.

The 22 billion euros for Hungary are earmarked for programs including education for disadvantaged children, rail transport upgrades, access to broadband, and aid for regions affected by coal plant closures.

The decision to hold back the full amount for Hungary was made because on Thursday the Commission and Budapest signed what is called a partnership agreement which details how money from the EU budget is to be spent, as well as 11 operational programs under the cohesion policy.

“The European Commission considers that the horizontal enabling condition on the Charter of Fundamental Rights is not yet fulfilled. This means that the European Commission cannot reimburse expenditures. We’ll keep working with Hungarian authorities to overcome this situation,” said Elisa Ferreira, EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms.

Hungary’s government has said the law limiting education on gender and sexual identity is designed to protect children.

Top Economic Releases Today:

1. USD: New Home Sales (Nov) Forecast 600K, Previous 632K at 20:30
2. USD: Core PCE Price Index (MoM) (Nov) Forecast 0.2%, Previous 0.2% at 19:00
3. CAD: GDP (MoM) (Oct) Forecast 0.1%, Previous 0.1% at 19:00
4. AUD: Private Sector Credit (MoM) (Nov) Actual 0.5%, Previous 0.6% at 06:00
5. EUR: Spanish GDP (QoQ) (Q3) Forecast 0.2%, Previous 0.2% at 13:30

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

GBPUSD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION – SELL AT 1.20309, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.19502, SL AT 1.21155

EURUSD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION – BUY AT 1.06120, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.06610, SL AT 1.05749

AUDUSD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION– BUY AT 0.67057, TAKE PROFIT AT 0.67653, SL AT 0.66699

USDJPY TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 132.117, TAKE PROFIT AT 130.845, SL AT 133.107

FTSE 100 INDEX TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION – BUY AT 7482.6, TAKE PROFIT AT 7510.0, SL 7451.0

BRENT CRUDE OIL TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION– BUY AT 82.75 TAKE PROFIT AT 84.18, SL 81.74

GOLD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION– BUY AT 1802.04, TAKE PROFIT AT 1818.27, SL 1791.22

BITCOIN TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 16748.51, TAKE PROFIT AT 16584.33, SL AT 16918.77