Friday’s Triple Witching Day, which had started with a premarket slump, turned into a big rally and short squeeze with major US indices gaining 1.0%-1.2%. Starting today, with many market participants away on holidays or in and out of the office for the next two weeks, trading has quietened down.
US index futures are mixed with Dow futures down 0.3% and NASDAQ futures up 0.1%. In Europe, the Dax is down 0.1%, the CAC is flat and the FTSE is up 0.1%.
10-year treasury yields for the US and the UK continue to creep upward with both putting 5.50% further into their rear-view mirrors. The US Dollar is up 0.2%-0.3% against the Canadian Dollar, Euro, Pound and Yen. Alternative currency trading is mixed with Gold down 0.6%, Silver up 0.4%, and Bitcoin up 0.7%. Commodities are also split with US Crude Oil down 0.4% and Copper up 0.3%.
Honda and Nissan are reportedly in merger talks which if successful, could create the third largest auto producer in the world. US auto stocks are quiet in premarket trading, but auto-sensitive Platinum is up 0.6%.
It’s a lighter week for economic news. Canada October GDP (0.3% vs street 0.1%), industrial prices (0.6% vs street 0.3%) and raw material prices (-0.5% vs street 0.6%) were mixed relative to expectations, but the GDP beat was encouraging. Tomorrow’s half-day brings US durable goods orders and new home sales.
SIA Wealth Morning Minutes will return on Friday, December 27th. Happy holidays everyone!