Open: London Session | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture December 21, 2020

But with 83 reported cases as of midday Monday, the next few weeks could be a testing period for the hitherto resilient Australian dollar. Also, the dollar index is currently trading near a resistance level. The dollar gained a bit, suggesting a rise in risk aversion. Against the dollar, it has a lot of room to fall.

But the value of gold holding was largely unchanged at $36 billion.

Meanwhile, weak global demand was bad for oil majors, and created growing difficulties for the cohesion of the OPEC oil cartel, which came to a head this year. Investing in companies with relatively light carbon footprints will generally also lead to portfolios with lots of tech and no oil companies. We have a bullish view for the TTF JAN21 contract supported by the forecast for strong consumption and prospects for lower LNG arrivals.

However, the Democrats reportedly believe that the language still gives the incoming Biden administration leeway to introduce new emergency programs in conjunction with the Fed if needed. Republicans reportedly believe the language will prevent the Fed from pursuing new emergency lending programs on its own without Congressional permission and appropriations. This scenario is not great news for the Nasdaq looking to continue with the run of new highs.
The Capital Spectator has been quoted by a range of news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and others. Buyers were able to recover some of Friday’s losses by the close of business for both the S&P and Nasdaq with only the Russell 2000 losing ground.

It was a weekend of blows for the former European Union state as Brexit trade talks missed another deadline amid few signs that either side is ready to compromise. The U.K. travel sector is in disarray, Brexit talks missed another deadline and Washington leaders reached a stimulus deal. The fears were that a no-deal Brexit would lead to a sharp increase in red tape at the border and hence to serious delays and bottlenecks. So here are some more including one sung by a group of English football hooligans, to get into the authentic Brexit spirit.