- DJIA falls on Monday.
- AUD struggles for a third straight day.
- Vaccine-hopes subdued by rising case numbers.
- Japan Q3 beats expectations
Nasdaq defied the broad selling in the US markets on Monday, rising by 0.54 Percent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.49 Percent and S&P 500 lost 0.19 Percent. Another round of lockdowns and rising coronavirus cases across the country rattled the investors.
The start of November saw a rally in the US equities, bolstered by the vaccine news, even when the coronavirus cases were rising steadily. However, now, the number of cases have forced more lockdowns and investors fear the enormous economic cost of the pandemic. The largest economy in the US, California, has over 20 million residents under lockdown as hospitals are finding it difficult to accommodate the burgeoning number of patients.
Traders now eye the US fiscal stimulus discussions, with bets for a successful bipartisan deal on the rise. The sharp rise in pandemic numbers and economic struggles made it more challenging for lawmakers to dilly-dally on the stimulus. Nevertheless, any failure to reach an agreement soon would hit the market sentiments triggering a bearish run on the equities.
Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly up yesterday but less bullish today, due to the effect of overnight bearish action in the US.
On the currency front, the Australian dollar is skidding against its major competitors with AUD/USD falling below the 2020 high region to target the third day of continuous losses. Australia’s November NAB Business Confidence rose by 9 points compared to 2 points earlier. But, the upbeat numbers hardly helped the AUD.
Japan’s third-quarter annualised GDP growth hit 22.9 Percent, beating expectations of 21.5 Percent growth.
In the day ahead, the traders would keenly watch the pandemic updates and the US stimulus discussions.
