Articles

South Africa Trade Balance (in Rands) up to 36.13B in October from previous 33.51B

91899   November 30, 2020 21:02   FXStreet   Market News  

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Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.

Opinions expressed at FXStreet are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXStreet or its management. FXStreet has not verified the accuracy or basis-in-fact of any claim or statement made by any independent author: errors and Omissions may occur.Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website, by FXStreet, its employees, partners or contributors, is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. FXStreet will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.

UK PM Johnson’s spokesman: UK will not change negotiating position

91898   November 30, 2020 20:56   FXStreet   Market News  

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman repeated on Monday that the UK remains committed to securing a free trade agreement with the EU as soon as possible but noted that they will not change their negotiating position, per Reuters.

“There are still differences on fisheries and level playing field,” the spokesman added.

Market reaction

The GBP/USD pair erased a portion of its daily gains in the last hour and is currently trading at 1.3334, where it’s still up 0.14% on a daily basis. 

Chile Industrial Production (YoY): 3.5% (October) vs 1.9%

91897   November 30, 2020 20:56   FXStreet   Market News  

Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.

Opinions expressed at FXStreet are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXStreet or its management. FXStreet has not verified the accuracy or basis-in-fact of any claim or statement made by any independent author: errors and Omissions may occur.Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website, by FXStreet, its employees, partners or contributors, is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. FXStreet will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.

Massive divergences remain on three main areas after EU-UK trade talks – Reuters

91896   November 30, 2020 20:56   FXStreet   Market News  

Trade talks between the European Union and the United Kingdom over the weekend were quite difficult, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an EU source familiar with the matter.

“Massive divergences remain on three main areas,” the source further reiterated and noted that the EU’s negotiating team will stay in London for more talks in the coming days.

Market reaction

The GBP/USD pair edged lower after these comments and was last seen trading at 1.3335, where it was still up 0.15% on the day.

Brazil Nominal Budget Balance climbed from previous -103.42B to -30.9B in October

91895   November 30, 2020 20:56   FXStreet   Market News  

Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.

Opinions expressed at FXStreet are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXStreet or its management. FXStreet has not verified the accuracy or basis-in-fact of any claim or statement made by any independent author: errors and Omissions may occur.Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website, by FXStreet, its employees, partners or contributors, is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. FXStreet will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.

Brexit: EU negotiating team to stay on in London for more talks in the coming days

91894   November 30, 2020 20:40   Forexlive Latest News   Market News  

Reuters reports, citing an EU source on the matter

• Trade talks over the weekend were “quite difficult”
• “Massive divergences” remain on three main areas

For bank trade ideas, check out eFX Plus

Or it could really be that negotiations are going nowhere, but we’ll see.

Brazil Primary Budget Surplus up to 3B in October from previous -64.56B

91893   November 30, 2020 20:40   FXStreet   Market News  

Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.

Opinions expressed at FXStreet are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXStreet or its management. FXStreet has not verified the accuracy or basis-in-fact of any claim or statement made by any independent author: errors and Omissions may occur.Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website, by FXStreet, its employees, partners or contributors, is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. FXStreet will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.

OPEC November oil output increases by 750,000 bpd – Reuters

91892   November 30, 2020 20:40   FXStreet   Market News  

Crude oil output of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in November increased by 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 25.31 million, a Reuters survey showed on Monday.

OPEC states bound by OPEC+ cuts comply with 102% of pledged reductions in November, Reuters further reported and noted that Saudi Arabia kept its oil supply steady in 9 million bpd.

Market reaction

Crude oil prices remain under pressure at the start of the week. As of writing, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate was trading near $45, losing 1.05% on a daily basis.

A few hours away from Ethereum 2.0 launch, here is everything you need to know

91890   November 30, 2020 20:40   FXStreet   Market News  

• Ethereum’s update is necessary to keep up with the growing users’ demands.
• ETH 2.0 will make the network more secure and scalable.
• The rollout will occur in three steps and it will take two years to complete the process.
• A new improvement proposal will allow merging ETH 1.0 into Beacon Chain. 

The Ethereum network came to life five years ago. Since that time, the project conceived as the world’s computer has grown into the second-largest blockchain with tens of thousands of applications built on top of it. It has become a home for a burgeoning altcoin universe, a primary place of all major stablecoins activity, and a starting point for a decentralized financial system.

The network is now on the threshold of revolutionary changes that will make it even better and more suitable to satisfy the growing needs of the cryptocurrency community. 

On December 1, Ethereum developers will mine the genesis block of Ethereum 2.0’s Beacon Chain, turning a new page in the blockchain’s history. 

The upcoming event inspired ETH bulls worldwide and set the stage for a massive ETH price increase. ETH/USD jumped by over 20% in less than four days and hit a new multi-year high of $623. However, what’s this hype is all about and why this milestone is so crucial for Ethereum users and the project itself?

The project is ripe for the changes

Ethereum is based on distributed ledger technology. However, unlike Bitcoin, it was not perceived as a peer-to-peer payment system. The main idea behind the project is to create an infrastructure of a virtual machine, the distributed computer that will allow users to execute code or store data. 

The concept translated into a smart contracts technology that allows processing trustful transactions without third-party interference. Basically, smart contracts are pieces of code executed automatically when certain conditions are met. The transactions performed by smart contracts are validated by numerous computers scattered around the world, meaning that it is impossible to cheat or falsify the outcome. 

The idea quickly gained popularity and morphed into a new trend of decentralized finance applications. However, popularity comes with a cost. Users have to pay gas – the amount of ETH tokens charged as a payment for the transaction being processed and validated on the blockchain. 

As more and more users joined the blockchain and deployed their apps on it, the network became overloaded, resulting in painfully slow transaction rates and galloping transaction fees. In some cases, users had to pay thousands of dollars in gas for a transaction. 

Currently, ETH is only capable of processing 35 transactions per second, while the lack of scalability makes its usage unpractical and, in some cases, too expensive. Ethereum 2.0 is set to solve these issues bringing the world’s decentralized financial infrastructure to a new level.

What is Ethereum 2.0?

Ethereum 2.0 is a major network upgrade aimed at improving ETH scalability, making it more secure and efficient in terms of energy consumption without sacrificing decentralization of accessibility features. Apart from that, the new version will alter Ethereum’s monetary policy, reducing its annual inflation to 1% and mining algorithm from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS).

Ethereum 2.0 will become a unique self-sustaining financial ecosystem with an option to earn passive income for ETH holders who are willing to lock in their Ethereum tokens to validate blocks for rewards. ETH developers hope this solution will allow to increase the network speed and make it more efficient.

When will the transition take place?

As FXStreet previously discussed, a migration to a new protocol is a complicated process. Many things need to be taken into account to ensure a smooth transition for all network participants. To avoid major issues and ensure that the ecosystem does not collapse if something goes wrong, the developers chose a step-by-step approach. 

In a recent “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session, Vitalik Buterin mentioned that the transformation might take at least two years. Also, he outlined the three phases of the process:

Phase 0 already started on November 1, when the developers launched the deposit smart contracts to attract the first 16,384 validators and 524,288 ETH staked initially required to kickstart the rollout.

At the time of writing, a deposit contact tied to Ethereum’s new Proof of Stake chain contains over 852,000 ETH obtained from over 2,000 unique depositors, meaning that the team gathered 157% of the required amount and is now ready to launch Phase 0.

ETH 2.0 deposits data

Phase 0, known as the Beacon Chain, will work as a coordination stage and it won’t change anything about the current usage on the Ethereum blockchain. The Beacon Chain will coordinate the expanded network of shards and stakers, laying the ground for a secure, sustainable and scalable Ethereum blockchain.

Phase 1, known as Shard Chains, is scheduled for launch somewhere in 2021. The technology realized in this phase will improve Ethereum’s scalability and capacity. Apart from that, Shard chains will spread the network’s load across 64 new chains, making it easier to run a node with low hardware requirements.

Phase 2, or the Docking Mainnet, will occur in 2022 and eventually dock the existing Ethereum mainnet with ETH 2.0 upgrades rolled out during the previous stages. Basically, ETH 1.0 mainnet will be merged with ETH 2.0 beacon chain and sharding system and mark the full transition to proof of stake.

How to speed up the process

As a two-year period sounds like a whole lot in our fast-changing world, ETH developer Mikhail Kalinin submitted a proposal that will allow the Beacon Chain to interact with the Ethereum 1.0 blockchain. 

According to the proposal titled “Executable Beacon Chain,” the developer suggests rethinking the idea of keeping the original Proof-of-Work blockchain operating in a dedicated shard. He wants to simplify and speed up the whole transition process by embedding ETH 1.0 data directly into Beacon Chain’s blocks.

He wrote:

We propose to get rid of this complexity by embedding eth1 data (transactions, state root, etc.) into beacon blocks and obligating beacon proposers to produce executable eth1 data. This enshrines eth1 execution and validity as a first-class citizen at the core of the consensus.

Vitalik Buterin has already praised the idea, calling it an excellent ongoing work on the merge.

If the proposal is approved, Ethereum 2.0 may become a reality sooner than expected, opening the way to a whole new world of decentralized applications. 

Moderna to apply for US emergency-use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine on Monday

91889   November 30, 2020 20:26   FXStreet   Market News  

Moderna Inc announced that it will apply for the emergency-use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine in the US on Monday, as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

“Will apply on Monday for conditional approval of its the vaccine in the EU.”

“COVID-19 vaccine was 94.1% effective in analysis of phase 3 study after 196 COVID-19 cases.”

“COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective against severe COVID-19 in phase 3 trial.”

“Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial had 30 severe cases, all on the placebo side, including 1 death.”

“US FDA Advisory Committee meeting to be scheduled for Dec. 17.”

“Launch trial of COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents expected to be before the end of the year.”

“No new serious safety concerns identified since Nov. 16 in phase 3 trial.”

“Expecting to have 20 million doses of vaccine available in the US this year, can start shipping shortly after authorization.”

“Efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine was consistent across age, race and ethnicity, and gender demographics.”

Market reaction

This headline doesn’t seem to be having a significant impact on market sentiment. As of writing, the S&P 500 Futures were down 0.24% on the day at 3,627.

EUR/USD Price Analysis: Scope for a test of 1.20 (and beyond)

91887   November 30, 2020 20:26   FXStreet   Market News  

• EUR/USD remains bid and approaches the 1.20 mark.
• Further upside now looks to the YTD tops near 1.2020.

EUR/USD extends the upside for yet another session and gradually moves closer to the psychological hurdle at 1.20 the figure .

The continuation of the bull run initially targets the 1.20 mark. Further north comes in the 2020 high around 1.2020 (September 1) ahead of a minor hurdle near 1.2030, where sits a Fibo level of the 2017-2018 rally.

Looking at the broader scenario, extra gains in EUR/USD are likely while above the critical 200-day SMA, today at 1.1409.

EUR/USD daily chart

US Dollar Index Price Analysis: Extra losses in the pipeline

91885   November 30, 2020 20:12   FXStreet   Market News  

• DXY breaks below the 8-month support line.
• The dollar clinches new 2020 lows around 91.55.

The downside momentum in DXY has accelerated as of late following the breakdown of a Fibo level in the 91.90 region and the 8-month support line near 91.80.

Therefore, the continuation of the downtrend is a palpable possibility with the next level of relevance at the April 2018 lows near 89.20.

Occasional bullish attempts need to surpass the 93.20 level (November 11) to mitigate the downside pressure somewhat. However, as long as DXY trades below the 200-day SMA, today at 95.98, the offered stance is forecast to persist.

DXY daily chart