Market Brief HoHum Day Concludes Traders Eye AU CPI and Fed

Matt Weller
By :  ,  Head of Market Research


View our guide on how to interpret the FX Dashboard.

  • The UK is honing in on a general election in the December 9-12 window, and with Conservatives sporting a comfortable lead in the polls, there’s optimism that a new majority could finally deliver Brexit. That said, UK polls have been proven wrong before, so the risk of a potential hung Parliament remains.
  • FX: The aussie was the strongest major currency, while the loonie brought up the rear. All the other majors were quiet, moving less than 0.10% against one another.
  • US data: Conference Board Consumer Confidence (Oct) came in at 125.9, a tick below expectations of 128.0. Pending Home Sales (Sept.) rose 1.5%, above 0.8% anticipate. The Case-Shiller home price index rose 2.03% y/y, roughly in-line with the 2.1% rise eyed.
  • Commodities: Both gold and oil edged lower on the day.
  • See our preview of tomorrow’s Federal Reserve meeting, as well as a twofer on tonight’s AU inflation report here and here.
 
  • US indices finished a choppy day moderately lower as traders continued to digest earnings reports.
  • Health care (XLV) was the strongest sector on the day; Communication Services (XLC) was the weakest.
  • Stocks on the move:
    • Beyond Meat (BYND) dumped -22% after reporting its first ever profit. It’s worth noting that the initial lockup on insiders selling shares expired today, so profit-taking undoubtedly played a big role in the stock’s selloff.
    • Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG) shed -2% after reporting disappointing earnings after the bell yesterday.
    • Grubhub (GRUB) dumped -43% as the company reported disappointing earnings amidst heavy competition. Five major analysts all downgraded the company’s stock.
    • General Motors (GM) tacked on 4% after reporting better-than-expected earnings, despite a nearly $3B hit from the UAW strike.
Related tags: Shares market Forex

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