Open: New York Session | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture December 18, 2020

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Agriculture

Sugar, coffee and New York cocoa futures on ICE rose on Thursday buoyed by the weakness of the dollar, while sterling-denominated London cocoa prices eased. The quota will cover more than half of Britain’s raw sugar imports which total about 400,000 tonnes per year.

Currencies

Does that mean the Massachusetts dollar is undervalued relative to the Texas dollar? less Anti-fiat gold prices closed at the highest in a month on Thursday as a decline in the US Dollar continued to bolster precious metal and commodity prices. BL Research BureauThe rupee (INR) ended flat last session at 73.58 against the dollar (USD) after briefly trading above the key level of 73.50. With eased DM fiscal/financial conditions, an abundance of dollar liquidity, prospects of increasing world trade and a strong EM growth rebound, this narrative carries well into 2021.
Sterling has dipped by 0.5% against the dollar, which in turn has helped the FTSE 100 gain by a similar amount due to its overseas earning contingent. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (ACRE) is an mREIT that was established in 2011, and manages a nearly $2B dollar portfolio of real estate loans. However, the long-term potential advance in its shares far outweighs fighting over a dollar or two upfront.
Figure 2 Source: Eikon Reuters, FRED The third important driver of bitcoin is the US dollar, which has considerably weakened in the past 8 months. The Swiss franc is the blue dot on the far right, 21% “overvalued” versus the dollar. Moreover, the dollar index is likely to fall further.

Metals

At depths around 750-1,000 meters, Premier Gold drilled 76.12 g/t gold over 3.5 meters, 4.93 g/t gold over 17 meters, or 26.82 g/t gold over 7.6 meters. Also, see Silver following Bitcoin Hubert is an independent gold and silver analyst who specializes in fractal analysis and the fundamentals of gold and silver . … more Hubert is an independent gold and silver analyst who specializes in fractal analysis and the fundamentals of gold and silver . According to the two-days old updated feasibility study, Hardrock contains reserves of 5.539 million toz gold, at a gold grade of 1.27 g/t.
According to the news release, Premier Gold’s shareholders will receive 0.1967 Equinox shares for each Premier Gold share. Source: Premier Gold At a gold price of $1,400/toz, Hardrock’s after-tax NPV(5%) equals $1.05 billion and the after-tax IRR equals 20.1%. GOLD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS Gold prices have closed above the medium-term 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA).
Mercedes and Hardrock, along with Equinox’s current growth projects, should help to elevate its annual gold production over the 1.25 million toz level over the coming years. It has an annual production capacity of approximately 50,000 toz gold at an AISC around $830/toz. Its current reserves of approximately 300,000 toz gold should be sufficient for another six years of mining.

Oil

Similarly, fuel oil inventories rose by 92,000 mt to 1.26 million mt, as no fuel oil cargo left the region last week. I have worked in the areas of oil refining, natural gas production, synthetic fuels, ethanol production, butanol production, and various biomass to energy projects. Malaysian palm oil futures rose nearly 1.5% as traders expect another month of subdued production and improving exports. I have over 20 years of international engineering experience in the chemicals, oil and gas, and renewable energy industries, and hold several patents related to my work.
Crude oil prices are aiming lower during Friday’s Asia Pacific trading session alongside a decline in futures tracking equities on Wall Street. Lockdowns are limiting economic activities, thus keeping oil demand weak. Gasoline inventories increased by 149,000 mt last week to 1.37 million mt. A potential stimulus package in the US has been supporting oil prices, although there is still some disagreement between Democrats and Republicans.
Then, momentum in XAU/USD as well as in growth-linked crude oil prices faded during the North American session.
The front month WTI futures contract was at $48.36/bbl, unchanged against the settlement price.

United States

It was the least possible guidance the Fed could offer in terms of asset purchases going forward. If unemployment and growth were to rebound much faster than expected but inflation remain low, for example, it’s unclear if or how the Fed would adjust purchases. Looking ahead to 2021, we believe the Fed will eventually need to provide more detailed guidance on its reaction function for asset purchases. According to the Fed statement, the current pace of asset purchases will remain in place until “substantial further progress” has been made toward achieving the Fed’s dual mandate objective.
With interest rates low and financial conditions easy, Fed officials did not see a need to add even more support. Second, the Fed’s messaging also likely reflects a range in views on the committee about the trade-off between the potential benefits and risks of asset purchases. The Fed doesn t know how it s going to extricate itself from these purchases going forward, said Swonk, Grant Thornton s chief economist, in a Bloomberg TV interview.
Instead, the Fed is looking to fiscal policy to help the U.S. economy bridge the gap from the current public health crisis to an improving outlook for 2021. The Fed revised its projections significantly in light of the faster-than-expected recovery to date, and the path going forward remains unclear given the unusual nature of this economic crisis. Per the latest FOMC Policy Statement, the Fed decided to keep its target range for federal fund rates between 0% and 0.25%.

China

The Shanghai-based company is at the heart of Beijing s plans for a world-class semiconductor industry.

Europe

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that talks are in a “serious situation” as a stand-off over fishing rights continues to hold up any agreement. In supply and demand projections released on its website, the Commission lowered its forecast for 2020/21 EU maize imports to 19 million tonnes from 21 million projected last month. Hence, in our view, EUR curve and spread trades will be done amid the ECB’s (soft) yield curve and spread control. Five Things Follow Us Get the newsletter Not quite there yet on stimulus, still trying for a Brexit deal, and Moderna vaccine gets nod for approval.
Moment of truth If you’re thinking that Congressional talks on stimulus have been going on forever, take a look at Europe where Brexit-related negotiations have been ongoing for years. Chief EU Negotiator Michel Barnier said that there are large obstacles and the path to a deal remains narrow. Source: Medium Nonetheless, I believe the transaction will ultimately get approved by the DOJ since Google had provided two rounds of concessions to get EU regulators comfortable.
As a reaction to a rapid curve steepening the ECB could increase the tempo of asset purchases to restrain the rise of long-dated rates. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index had gained 0.1% by 5:50 a.m. Eastern Time as investors watched for any progress on Brexit talks. Traders are still expecting more fireworks between now and the end of the year, when the current post-Brexit transition period ends.

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