News & Analysis

GBP/USD is soaring on expectations of aggressive Fed rate cuts in 2024, despite Fed Chairman Powell’s protestations...

US stocks are set for a quiet open as investors look cautiously ahead to an appearance by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later today. His comments will come as the Fed's preferred measure of inflation cooled to 3.5% YoY in October and as the market wraps up a month of impressive gains. Optimism that the Fed could start to cut rates next year lifted the Nasdaq 100 11% this month, its best monthly gain since mid-2022.

EUR/USD struggles below 1.09 ahead of manufacturing data & Fed Chair Powell’s speech. Oil falls after OPEC+ underwhelmed.

With traders more than happy to price in Fed cuts for 2024 where possible, they will be looking for further signs that the US economy is slowing but at a rate that does not scream recession. And this places US ISM services and the nonfarm payroll report into the limelight next week. China’s trade data and inflation figures may reveal whether Beijing need to step up support for the economy yet again. And whilst the RBA and BOC are expected to hold the cash rate steady at their monetary policy meetings, their statements may indicate how much of an appetite there is for further hikes in Q1.

While AUD/USD has yet to break the downtrend running from early 2022, the reprieve against the dollar has it looking more constructive against the crosses, especially the euro and Japanese yen having broken key levels on the weekly charts.

AUD/USD was the strongest performer among the Aussie pairs we track in November. A combination of hawkish RBA alongside bets of Fed cuts in 2024 played nicely with our long bias. What will December bring?

Gold just posted its highest monthly close on record, and now trades less than $40 from its record high set in May. With seasonality on its side, I suspect another crack at the record high could be in order. Although it does run the risk of a shakeout around the milestone level.

The Dow Jones achieved an all-time high of 35,802 in afternoon trade, signifying the equity market’s bullish tone spurred by hoped-for interest rate cuts. Traders are placing a 40% probability of a March rate cut in the Fed Funds rate. The Fed’s favored inflation measure cooled to 3.5% annual growth, welcome but still above its 2.0% target.

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