Christmas week should welcome the ‘Santa’ rally, which usually drags through into the New Year on equity markets. The holiday week is pre-occupied and skeleton crews are in operation. UK GDP fell to zero in Q3, with the Labour Governments fiscal mismanagement being blamed for the fall back into recession. The fiscal management aided and abetted the latest dreadful growth data, but the previous Tory Government, was a shocking example of fiscal ineptitude. Governments across Europe and the West have been destroying their economies with record deficit/debt spending, encouraging inflation and this has been exasperated further with green energy polices. People can look for hope into the New Year, when President Trump resumes the power of the POTUS, hopefully leading Western nations, in the opposite direction. The US Dollar regained ground, as the EUR dipped below 1.0400, while the GBP struggled to hold 1.2500.The strength of the reserve continued to take its toll on commodity currencies, with the AUD falling to 0.6220, while the NZD slipped to 0.5630. The weak economic data and resurgent inflation are impacting currencies and bond markets. Domestic markets will be watching the release of minutes from the RBA and Bank of Japan today, to gauge just how hawkish these Central Banks remain.
