News & Analysis

The dollar continues to hover near a one month low by a number of broad measures this morning, as markets await the potentially seismic effects of this weekend’s scheduled imposition of further tariffs on consumer goods imported from China.

Sterling was by far the best performer against the US dollar last week, also reaching its highest level against the euro since 2017. This morning’s trading has seen the pound strengthen further after the weekend’s polls offered little reason to believe the Labour Party has gained enough momentum for voters to deliver a hung Parliament.

The dollar weakened in a broad sense yesterday, with the DXY index reaching fresh one month lows this morning. Today’s main data release will be the monthly Non-Farm Payrolls report, at 13:30 GMT. Headline jobs growth is expected to pick up slightly from last month’s poor 128,000 figure.

Donald Trump appeared to leave this week’s NATO summit in London in something of a huff yesterday, after a camera caught Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and other leaders including Boris Johnson sharing a joke at Trump’s expense.

The US has threatened to implement sanctions on French imports in retaliation for France’s Digital Services tax. As today’s formal NATO talks start today, any further rifts between the US and Europe will be under the spotlight.

Wilbur Ross said yesterday that if the right trade deal with China was not struck, the US would proceed with the imposition of further tariffs on December 15th, supposedly a good time to implement tariffs due to the date coming too close to Christmas to harm consumer spending.

This morning’s data has included Markit’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, which rose to 48.9 for last month, slightly better than expected but still indicating overall contraction in the sector.

Following the signing by Donald Trump of legislation aimed at supporting protests in Hong Kong, Chinese authorities have not announced any firm response, or released any official statements on how the legislation may affect trade talks.

The Thanksgiving holiday has not prevented the dollar and developments in the US from driving global markets this morning, after Donald Trump signed two bills aimed at supporting protests in Hong Kong.

Global markets are reminded yet again not to forget about the US-China trade war and the supposedly incoming phase one deal yesterday as President Donald Trump stated “we’re in the final throes of a very important deal” last night on Fox News.