ETH/USD shoots over $600

GURU WISDOM

“I was born to make mistakes, not to fake perfection.” - Drake
 

MARKETS

*Daily closing price
↘ EUR/USD    1.1841        (-0.21%) 
↗ GBP/USD    1.3322        (+0.14%)
↗ USD/JPY    104.53        (+0.67%)
↗ S&P 500    3577.59    (+0.56%)
↗ Hang Seng    26,451        (+0.13%)
↘ Gold        1869.60    (-1.94%)
↗ Oil (Brent)    44.96        (+1.91%)
↗ Bitcoin    18401        (+0.79%)
 

NEWS

Ethereum > 600

On Friday Ethereum rose over $500 and by Monday it had gained another $100 – or 20% to rise above $600. Other cryptocurrency assets have been accelerating while Bitcoin retraced over the weekend, having come just short of $19,000. Ethereum traders are racing toward a deadline for the release of ETH2.0 on December 1.
 

Gold < 1850

Rising optimism about a vaccine coupled with reduced scope for fiscal stimulus in the near term has increased real bond yields and weighed on the price of gold, which is relatively less attractive as a non-yielding asset when rates are up. The longer term gold uptrend is intact but the break below a key technical barrier increases the probability of a deeper short term correction.
 

Yellen 2.0

Fed Chair Janet Yellen is back. After one term as Fed Chair, Yellen will return to a top job in Washington according to reports. Yellen is apparently Biden’s favourite to be Treasury Secretary. Yellen famously kept interest rates at rock bottom levels and failed to bring down the Fed’s balance sheet after former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s QE programs. Some have remarked Yellen’s record as Fed Chair increases the chance of MMT (modern monetary theory) where the government gives away printed money straight to the public.
 

Dollar bounces

US November PMI data from Markit saw a shock rise when a contraction was expected. Services rose to 57.7 from 53.4 when a drop to 53 was expected while manufacturing jumped to 57.7 from 56.9 when a drop to 55.3 was expected. The survey was taken after the US election but also importantly after the first major breakthrough vaccine news from Pfizer. Both appear to have lifted business sentiment. The improved US outlook lifted the US dollar off 2 ½ year lows in the Bloomberg dollar index. 
 

DAY AHEAD 

*Times in GMT
07:00 – Germany - Gross Domestic Product (QoQ)(Q3) - 8.2 % Exp vs. 8.2 % Prev
09:00 – Germany - IFO – Expectations(Nov) - 93.5 Exp vs. 95 Exp
12:05 – Japan - BoJ's Governor Kuroda speech
15:00 – USD - Consumer Confidence(Nov)