Manufacturing in Europe and the US remain in the doldrums, with European PMI data holding deeply in contraction mode. The minority French Government are attempting to put forward their first Budget, but are likely to fail, and this could result in a vote of ‘no confidence’ and the Government would likely then fall. This did not promote confidence in markets. US PMI remained weak, but slightly better than expected, allowing the S&P and NASDAQ to reach record highs, on the share markets, following the Thanksgiving break. The USD regained ground sharply, with the EUR plunging back to 1.0470, while the GBP dropped to 1.2630.
The surge in the reserve crunched the commodity currencies, with the AUD falling back to 0.6450, while the NZD slipped back to 0.5870. Chinese PMI Manufacturing data was better than expected and regained expansionary territory. Australian and Japanese Manufacturing PMI was flat, while Australian Job Ads and Commodity Prices tumbled. Equity markets are still on the Trump high, but the promised threat of tariffs, remain in the background.
