US stocks strengthened today ahead of Powell’s speech today as investors awaited on further guidance on monetary policy. Meanwhile, we have heard a number of policymakers this week mention that rates are likely to remain unchanged in December, though they showed little emphasis on the timing and scale of cuts next year, maintaining a higher-for-longer narrative intact. We expect that the bond strength might prompt policymakers to warn the market about excessive optimism surrounding the timing of interest rate cuts. The dollar is now trading at 103.20, and the 10-year US Treasury yield struggled above 4.30%.
China’s Caixin manufacturing performance jumped into expansionary territory for the first time since September, beating market expectations at 50.7. This comes a day after another manufacturing index pointed to protracted contraction in the sector. The Caixin estimate usually tends to exceed that of official performance; however, cumulatively, surveys indicate a marginal improvement month-on-month. We will watch out for hard data to drive our sentiment in regard to activity in the region. Still, positive data supported price momentum on the upside. Copper breached the robust $8,500/t resistance level to close at $8,610.50/t. Aluminium tried to breach the $2,200/t once again but failed below this level, coming back to $2,209/t. Zinc and tin jumped higher to settle at $2,509.50/t and $23,748/t, respectively.
Oil futures remained in the lower range as investors continued to assess the impact of the recent OPEC+ cut announcement. Gold and silver jumped higher in the second half of the day to $2,060/oz and $25.40/oz, respectively.
All price data is from 01.12.2023 as of 17:30