Here’s what you need to know on Thursday, December 5:
He US dollar (USD) continues to decline towards 106.00 early Thursday after posting small losses for the second day in a row on Wednesday. The US economic calendar will include weekly initial jobless claims and goods trade balance data for October. During European trading hours, Eurostat will publish retail sales figures for October.
During a moderated discussion at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the US economy is in “remarkably good shape.” He also explained that they are trying to be at an intermediate point where the policy is less restrictive, so that inflation can go down but without damaging the labor market. These comments failed to trigger a notable reaction in the market. However, Wall Street’s major indices posted strong daily gains and the 10-year US Treasury yield fell below 4.2%, making it difficult for the USD Index to gain traction. Early Thursday, US stock index futures are trading virtually unchanged.
US Dollar PRICE This Week
The table below shows the percentage change of the US Dollar (USD) against major currencies this week. US dollar was the weakest currency against the Japanese yen.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.40% | 0.10% | 0.09% | 0.57% | 1.10% | 0.82% | 0.31% | |
| EUR | -0.40% | -0.34% | -0.28% | 0.19% | 0.80% | 0.42% | -0.04% | |
| GBP | -0.10% | 0.34% | 0.02% | 0.52% | 1.14% | 0.78% | 0.27% | |
| JPY | -0.09% | 0.28% | -0.02% | 0.46% | 1.04% | 0.75% | 0.18% | |
| CAD | -0.57% | -0.19% | -0.52% | -0.46% | 0.69% | 0.25% | -0.25% | |
| AUD | -1.10% | -0.80% | -1.14% | -1.04% | -0.69% | -0.37% | -0.88% | |
| NZD | -0.82% | -0.42% | -0.78% | -0.75% | -0.25% | 0.37% | -0.47% | |
| CHF | -0.31% | 0.04% | -0.27% | -0.18% | 0.25% | 0.88% | 0.47% |
The heat map shows percentage changes for major currencies. The base currency is selected from the left column, while the quote currency is selected from the top row. For example, if you choose the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change shown in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
Bitcoin gained bullish momentum during Asian trading hours on Thursday and shot to a new record high above $100,000. President-elect Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he has nominated Patomak Global Partners CEO Paul Atkins, who is a well-known cryptocurrency advocate, to replace Gary Gensler as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Toyoaki Nakamura, a Bank of Japan (BoJ) board member, said on Thursday that he is not against rate hikes, but added that the decision should depend on the data. “There will be a lot of data before the December BoJ meeting, including Tankan, so we want to analyze it carefully to decide if a rate hike would be appropriate,” Nakamura said. After rising more than 0.5% on Wednesday, the USD/JPY remains lower early Thursday and was last seen trading below 150.00.
Data from Germany showed factory orders fell 1.5% on a monthly basis in October. This reading followed the 7.2% increase recorded in September and was slightly better than the market expectation of a 2% decline. He EUR/USD is holding onto small gains above 1.0500 after failing to make a decisive move in either direction on Wednesday.
He GBP/USD continues to rise and trades above 1.2700 after closing in positive territory on Wednesday.
Gold benefited from falling US Treasury yields and posted marginal gains on Wednesday. However, XAU/USD remains stuck in a relatively narrow channel around $2,650 in European morning trading on Thursday.
Bitcoin, altcoins and stablecoins FAQs
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any person, group or entity, eliminating the need for third-party involvement during financial transactions.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin, but some also consider that Ethereum is not an altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that the fork occurs. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset they represent. To achieve this, the value of any stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), and its supply is regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main objective of stablecoins is to provide an on-ramp and off-ramp for investors who wish to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value, as cryptocurrencies in general are subject to volatility.
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio between the market capitalization of Bitcoin and the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of the interest in Bitcoin among investors. High BTC dominance typically occurs before and during a bull run, where investors turn to investing in relatively stable, high market cap cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. A decline in BTC dominance usually means that investors are shifting their capital and/or profits into altcoins in search of higher returns, which often triggers an explosion of gains in altcoins.
Source: Fx Street
I am Joshua Winder, a senior-level journalist and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in covering news related to the stock market and economic trends. With more than 8 years of experience in this field, I have become an expert in financial reporting.
