Movements in the currency markets have been a little benign this week, meanwhile indices have jumped higher as Christmas cheer engulfs investors. We are still some way off where we started the month of December on European indices, so with only a hand full of trading days left before year end there needs to be a concerted effort from bulls to record a gain for the month. Commodity markets have also benefitted from an improvement in sentiment having looked oversold for some time now with Brent back in the high $30 range and looking like it could even recapture the $40 mark before the year is over, particularly if bearish positions are squeezed.
Sterling was a standout yesterday as it strengthened on the back of a softer final reading in Q3 UK GDP and this morning GBPUSD is back above 1.4900. The dollar has weakened in this final stretch of 2015 in what has been a standout year for the greenback overall, but as we move closer towards 2016 there are few calls for USD to repeat its 2015 strength, even despite the Fed now finally having commenced its tightening cycle. With today being a half day for many markets, trading is over for most not only ahead of the Christmas break, but for 2015 as a whole.
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