Trump said that there will be an orderly transition on January 20th
Wall Street stocks rallied to fresh all-time highs overnight after Congress confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president. President Donald Trump said in a statement after the Congress confirmation of Biden that there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. Against this backdrop, investors looked past the unrest in Washington and continued to focus on the possibility for additional fiscal aid after the Democratic party secured a majority in the Senate. As a result, the S&P 500 rose 1.5%, the Dow gained 0.7%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.6%.
Asian markets were mostly higher on Friday on hopes for additional economic stimulus in the US. Traders shrugged off rising coronavirus cases and political unrest in the United States, sending regional stocks to all-time highs. The upbeat mood lifted MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 1.56%. As such, Nikkei 225 jumped 2.36%, South Korea’s Kospi gained nearly 4%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.68%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.2%, while the Shanghai Composite in China bucked the trend and dipped 0.17%.
In Europe, equities opened higher on Friday as investors were pricing in a strong economic recovery in the second half of the year, ignoring the fact that Germany recorded the most fatalities since the pandemic started. On the data front, German industrial production rose 0.9% in November, ahead of expectations.
As for currencies, the dollar extended its recovery from the oversold territory, sending the USD index back to the 90.00 area on Friday. As such, the index managed to leave behind recent lows in the 89.20 area amid a recovery of US 10-year yields. EURUSD extended its downside correction from fresh long-term highs and was flirting with an important 20-DMA at the time of writing. If the pair fails to cling to this moving average (today at 1.2225), the 1.2200 handle will come into market focus. Later in the day, US job market data could affect short-term dynamics in USD pairs.
