investingLive European markets wrap: Quiet Black Friday

Headlines:

• Dollar holds slightly firmer in final stretch of the week/month
• Gold Technical Analysis: Precious metals remain supported amid dovish Fed expectations
• How have interest rate expectations changed after this week’s events?
• ECB survey shows inflation expectations for the year ahead seen nudging up a little
• Bavaria November CPI +2.2% vs +2.2% y/y prior
• France November preliminary CPI +0.9% vs +1.0% y/y expected
• Italy November preliminary CPI +1.2% vs +1.3% y/y expected
• Spain November preliminary CPI +3.0% vs +2.9% y/y expected
• France Q3 final GDP +0.5% vs +0.5% q/q prelim
• Italy Q3 final GDP +0.1% vs +0.0% q/q prelim
• Switzerland Q3 final GDP -0.5% vs -0.4% q/q expected
• Germany November unemployment change 1k vs 5k expected
• Germany October retail sales -0.3% vs +0.2% m/m expected
• Germany October import price index +0.2% vs 0.0% m/m expected
• China seeks formal explanation from Malaysia over trade deal with US

Markets:

• JPY leads, NZD lags on the day
• European equities slightly higher
• US 10-year yields down 0.6 bps to 3.992%
• Gold up 0.4% to $4,174.74
• WTI crude oil up 0.7% to $59.08
• Bitcoin up 0.1% to $91,519

You wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to stay at their desks today, not least with the Thanksgiving holiday still running and it also being Black Friday. But then you even have to throw in a CME data center glitch overnight and that pretty much summed up a lack of interest in really wanting to participate in markets today.

Even with it being month-end trading, there wasn’t much action of note. In the major currencies space, things are staying more muted with the dollar holding just a touch firmer after having been beaten down this week.

EUR/USD is down 0.2% to 1.1570 currently, keeping a bounce off key near-term levels for now. Meanwhile, GBP/USD is also down 0.2% to 1.3211 while USD/JPY is marginally lower by 0.1% to 156.15. Overall, the changes are light and not much to shout about with the run up to the London fix later perhaps being the only key risk event left on the week/month.

USD/CAD is flat at 1.4027 while NZD/USD is shaving off some gains from earlier in the week and is down 0.4% to 0.5707 currently.

In other markets, European stocks are continuing to hold on to gains on the week in keeping relatively steadier today. US markets will be open for a half-day later but don’t expect all too much in what should be a quieter session before the weekend.

Besides that, gold is seen higher as precious metals continue to push gains on the week. Bullion is up 0.4% to $4,174 as buyers are testing the waters of a potential technical breakout ahead of December trading.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin is not doing all too much on the day as well but risk buyers can take heart in the rebound this week as the cryptocurrency continues to hold above $90,000 with the weekend just around the corner.

Well, that should see November trading wrap up with a bit more of a quiet mood. As a reminder as well, the start of December will not feature the usual non-farm payrolls with it being delayed to after the Fed meeting and to be released only on 16 December.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.