Markets slip following Wall Street’s mixed closing after Powell's re-nomination - 23.11.2021

The Dollar strengthening continues currently. 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, rose 0.5% on Monday as futures contracts tied to the Fed's policy interest rate indicated that money markets are now expecting the United States central bank to raise interest rates by 25 basis points by next June versus a previous estimate of July.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD kept retreating Monday as EuroStat reported consumer sentiment deteriorated in euro zone in November. Both euro and Pound are lower against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its sliding while AUD/USD continued retreating Monday with both the Australian dollar and yen lower against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are down currently ahead of the flash US manufacturing PMI report at 15:45 CET today. SP500 and Nasdaq fell Monday while bank stocks, which benefit from higher bond yields, rose 2%: the stock index benchmarks booked daily returns in the range of -1.26% to +0.05%.

European stock indexes are down currently after ending mixed Monday with travel and leisure shares leading losses after Germany and Austria re-imposed strict lockdown measures last week. Asian indexes are mixed today with Japanese markets closed for a public holiday. Shanghai Composite is up buoyed by real estate shares amid reports Chinese banks were instructed to issue more loans for real estate projects.

Brent is edging lower currently ahead of data from the American Petroleum Institute later today. Prices closed up Monday supported by Bloomberg report that OPEC+ may alter plans to keep boosting production. The group of major producers agreed this month to stick to plans to raise oil output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) from December. Earlier Reuters reported Japanese and Indian officials are working on ways to release national reserves of crude oil together with the United States to dampen prices. US West Texas Intermediate WTI gained 1% but is lower currently. Brent rose 1% to $79.70 a barrel on Monday.