Stocks advance pauses as vote count continues in US - 6.11.2020

The Dollar weakening is intact currently ahead of the US non-farm payrolls report at 17:30 CET today. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, fell 0.9% Thursday as Labor Department reported above expected 751 thousand Americans filed for first-time benefits instead of forecast of 740,000. Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their sliding despite euro-zone retail sales dropping above expected 2% over month in September after 4.2% growth a month prior. Euro is higher still against the Dollar currently while Pound is down. USD/JPY accelerated its sliding while AUD/USD’s continued rising yesterday with the dynamics intact currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are lower currently after extending gains Thursday. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded gains ranging from 2% to 2.6% as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates at 0%-0.25% and pledged to do whatever it takes to sustain a US economic recovery. European stock indexes are down today after ending solidly higher Thursday as the Bank of England voted to expand its bond purchases by £150 billion to £895 billion. Asian indexes are mixed currently with Nikkei and Australia’s All Ordinaries ASX 200 Index up while Chinese stock benchmarks are all down.

Brent is extending losses today. Oil prices fell yesterday as the European Union’s executive commission lowered its economic forecast, estimating the EU economy would not rebound to pre-pandemic levels until 2023. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures ended lower yesterday: WTI slid 0.9% and is lower currently. Brent crude closed 0.7% lower at $40.93 a barrel on Thursday.