Equity markets are off to a positive start this week with US index futures up 0.5%-0.7%, building on overseas gains of 0.4% for both the FTSE and Dax and 1.3% for the Nikkei. The Ukraine conflict didn’t worsen over the weekend and investors appear to be pleased with incoming President Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary. It appears that Scott Bessent founder of investment company Key Square is being seen as potentially friendly to Wall Street.
With market action expected to slow down in the second half of the week for US Thanksgiving and Black Friday, most of this week’s US economic data is scheduled to come out Tuesday and Wednesday including durable goods orders, core PCE inflation, a GDP update, Chicago PMI and more housing data. Canada GDP is due on Friday. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to announce a 0.50% interest rate cut on Wednesday.
With investor confidence improving, precious metals are backing off with gold down 0.9% and silver down 1.4%. Bitcoin is up 0.9% but still below $100,000. The US 10-year treasury note yield has slipped back under 4.40% and the US Dollar is down 1.0% relative to the Euro, 0.6% against the Pound and 0.2% against the Loonie. US Crude Oil is down 0.2% and Copper is up 0.8%.