US Data Dump Ahead of Thanksgiving Holiday

By Craig Erlam, Senior Market Analyst, UK & EMEA, OANDA

European stocks have erased earlier gains to trade slightly in negative territory on Wednesday and US futures are pointing to a similar open ahead of tomorrow’s Thanksgiving bank holiday.

This could have been a relatively uneventful week as a result of tomorrow’s US bank holiday as traders fully embraced the time off with family, turning the celebrations into a long weekend or even a full week away from the desk. But instead, it’s been quite the opposite, as Powell’s renomination sent shockwaves through the markets and the few remaining lira bulls abandoned ship as the currency sank to new lows.

While we’re still seeing the effects of that and the ripples will continue to spread into year-end, especially around the December Fed meeting, we may start to see some calm return to most corners after today. But with a plethora of pre-Thanksgiving data out first, there’s still time for a few more shocks before then.

GDP, durable goods, jobless claims, PCE inflation, income, spending, inflation expectations, new home sales and consumer sentiment are among the releases coming from the US. And that’s before we get the FOMC minutes from earlier this month later in the session.

The pick of the bunch is surely the PCE data, given the trend we’ve seen in the inflation readings recently and pressure that’s mounting on the Fed to tighten monetary policy faster. The minutes will be interesting but a lot has happened in the last few weeks, to the extent that I wonder what we can actually learn of any significance.

Needless to say, we’ll have a much clearer image of the economy by the end of today which will feed into the now hawkish expectations ahead of next month’s meeting. The transitory argument alone just doesn’t resonate anymore so aside from the dot plot, the Fed’s language next month will set the tone for 2022.

Oil flat after SPR move

Oil is looking a little flat today after bouncing back well on Tuesday following the coordinated SPR announcement. Oil consuming countries fighting back makes for an interesting story and may score Biden some much-needed political points ahead of the midterms but as we’ve seen from the market reaction, it’s certainly no game-changer.

And I’m not convinced it was ever intended to be. The decision has ticked a few boxes and if they’ve played it well, won’t ruffle too many feathers within OPEC+ and trigger a response. They still hold all the power and could quite easily counter. Rather than engage in a price war though, I wonder if the group will allow them this small win and move forward as planned as prices remain elevated.

Gold finds its feet ahead of US data

Gold has been pummelled this week but it appears to finally be finding its feet a little ahead of today’s feast of US data. The yellow metal had benefitted greatly from a combination of higher inflation and central bank pushback but the readjustment in interest rate expectations in the markets has brought it back down to earth with a bang.

There could still be plenty of action ahead today given the quantity of data and the Fed minutes ahead of the US holiday when gold will find its feet once more. But how it performs into year-end will ultimately depend on whether the Fed falls in line with market expectations next month.

Bitcoin stable but further downside may come

Bitcoin has stabilised over the last couple of days after finding support around $55,500. The move below $58,000 was a blow and it could fall further still in the near term. It’s hard to imagine the correction being too severe though given the momentum we’re seeing in the space at the moment and the excitement it’s generating.