Open: London Session | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture October 09, 2020

investors

Agriculture

Sugar prices declined 2.6% over the month, mainly because of a global glut expected to persist through the 2021 season. Raw sugar futures closed up on Thursday after hitting a seven-month high, fueled by fund buying on news of adverse weather hurting some major producing countries. The combined deals made for USDA’s largest daily soybean export sales announcement since Sept. 8, agency data showed.

Currencies

The yuan was last up 1 per cent at 6.7218 per dollar in onshore trade and it rallied half a per cent to 6.7083 per dollar offshore. The dollar eased 0.1 per cent against a basket of currencies and it is down 0.4 per cent for the week. The Canadian dollar is set for its best weekly rise in more than two months, adding 0.9 per cent to C$1.3185 per dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.15 per cent to 93.46.
The New Zealand dollar likewise recouped Thursday losses made after another dovish signal from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and was last up 0.3 per cent at $0.6602. The safe-haven Japanese yen, which has been sold with the upbeat mood, was a tiny bit higher at 105.87 per dollar on Friday. Looking at the DXY, Hirst noted that nearly all of the move down in the dollar was due to the euro getting stronger and not actual dollar weakness. The yuan’s leap, when China’s markets reopened after the mid-autumn break, was partly a catch-up since the offshore yuan has gained against a softening dollar during the week.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller is worried that the U.S. dollar will lose purchasing power much more rapidly than the 2% “average” the Fed is currently telegraphing. On Thursday, the rupee closed at 73.24 against the US dollar.

Metals

Perhaps gold investors know something that bondholders and most Wall Street analysts don’t. The gold market surged to a new all-time high in August before selling off in September.

Oil

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.16 per cent to $43.27 per barrel. Vegetable oil price soared 6% in September, over August prices, due to rising palm, sunflower seeds, and soy oil prices, hitting 8-month highs. Unfortunately, it has been decimated by the pandemic-induced low oil price environment despite the fact that its business model largely insulates it from fluctuations in energy prices. The company boasts approximately 90,000 miles of pipelines that move about 30% of all U.S. crude oil and natural gas production.
Meanwhile, an intense propaganda war is also being waged for the moral high ground, boosted by Azerbaijani oil revenues, new media and Armenia s large and vocal diaspora. Energy Transfer is a midstream company, which means that it transports resources from the oil and gas field to a wholesaler that then sells them to the end consumer. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was little changed at $41.21 after having added $1.24 cents, or 3.1 per cent on Thursday.
Admittedly BP could possibly provide a more desirable investment for those investors seeking short-term trading opportunities to capitalize on any recovery in oil prices. The travel restrictions reduced the demand for oil globally so prices naturally fell. Prices have also been buoyed by an oil-workers strike in Norway, which is threatening almost a quarter of its the nation s output.

United States

It is the fast money robo investing that has caused this, as the Fed stands ready to square things away if the yields go much higher. In August, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the central bank would begin targeting an inflation “average” of 2%. The fact that numerous states and counties across the US have had infection spikes even with strict mask mandates suggests to me that the masks are pointless. A President Biden would certainly adopt different tactics in their deepening dispute, while President Trump s policy moves remain as unpredictable as ever.
Coming up this weekend, Trump said he hopes to hold a rally on Saturday after his doctor said he should be able to resume public events that day. Fed mentioned how minorities and the poor would be hit the hardest by the lack of a stimulus. According to a Pelosi spokesman, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told her that Trump wanted an agreement on a comprehensive stimulus package.
Prospects for reaching a deal have proved volatile since Trump pulled his negotiators out of talks on a comprehensive package on Tuesday.
The US, the largest market, represents one-third of its revenues, with Europe representing a quarter and all other countries representing the balance. However, the Fed is using its platform to lobby for one which makes total sense.

Europe

EU government envoys in Brussels will today seek agreement on common thresholds for imposing bloc-wide travel rules (such as requiring quarantine or negative Covid-test results for visitors). Nagorno-Karabakh | As fighting rages between Azerbaijan and Armenia, EU foreign ministers will debate the bloc s potential reaction in a meeting on Monday. Screen Time | The newest weapon in the EU arsenal to protect European businesses from aggressive foreign competitors arrives this weekend.
Greek Debt | If you are searching for proof that ECB s policy works, look no further than Greek bond yields. Meanwhile, the European Union signed an advance purchase agreement for 200 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate. When the main alternatives are the U.S. and the EU, with all their desperate monetary measures, China grows more appealing. Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the pandemic with mayors of Germany’s biggest cities today. We also publish the Brexit Bulletin, a daily briefing on the latest on the U.K. s departure from the EU.
11:45 a.m. EU justice ministers video conference Like the Brussels Edition?

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