The volume will return today after the Thanksgiving holiday, but it should still be a subdued session as many in the US are away for the long holiday weekend. With that in mind the markets will still open and it will be a case of many traders looking for opportunities now the US has returned to trade. We can expect the volume to be hit and miss now as we get past the Thanksgiving holiday, as Christmas trading now becomes the next hurdle for us to get over. Although remember that the lower volume does not always mean no volatility, as this morning’s moves in sterling and the euro have shown.
EUR/USD is one of the talking points for us as technically it approaches some key levels in its recent set ups with 1.1880 now acting as the key resistance on the upside, which is a 61.8% retracement of the recent move from late August to early the early November lows. It’s been a strange week for the euro with traders not entirely sure what to make of the news of a breakdown in talks, and the possibility of another election.
European markets had been looking towards the Asian session for signs of stability after the CSI had posted its worst one day loss for almost 18 months. It was however stability that they got as the CSI ended fairly flat for the session and left Europe in a strong position heading into the final trading session of the week. So far this morning the Dax has remained solid and looked to push to wipe out losses from earlier in the week, while the FTSE has drifted somewhat.
Headlines for later today will come from the US as the manufacturing, services and composite PMI’s are all due for release at 2:45pm UK time, but as previously mentioned a lack of volume could well make for a fairly subdued end to the trading week. The greenback does remain on the back foot into the early part of trading on Friday, being outperformed especially by the pound and the euro.