Markets take a breather after notching fresh records

The Dollar strengthening continues currently ahead of the US Labor Department report at 16:30 CET expected to show 995 thousand Americans likely sought unemployment benefits over the last week. 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, jumped 0.4% Wednesday despite Automatic Data Processing data showing 428,000 private sector jobs were created in August, missing expectations for a gain of 1.25 million . GBP/USD joined EUR/USD’s continued sliding yesterday as Germany’s statistics department Destatis reported retail sales declined 0.9% over month in July when an 0.5% increase was expected. Both pairs are lower currently. AUD/USD extended losses while USD/JPY continued climbing yesterday with the dynamics intact for both pairs currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are mixed currently after a bullish run on Wednesday led by technology shares. The three main US stock indexes recorded gains ranging from 1.0% to 1.6% after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Tuesday announced a temporary eviction moratorium through the end of the year, protecting US renters from losing their homes due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. European stock indexes are mixed currently after a bullish session Thursday. Asian indexes are mixed today too with Nikkei leading advancers after Caixin report China’s services sector activity slowed in August.

Brent is extending losses today. Prices fell yesterday despite the US Energy Information Administration report that US crude oil inventories fell by 9.4 million barrels last week, the sixth weekly decline in a row. Gasoline inventories declined by 4.3 million barrels. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell: October WTI lost 2.9% and is lower currently. November Brent crude closed 2.5% lower at $44.43 a barrel on Wednesday.

Gold prices are pulling back today. December gold lost 1.7% to $1944.70 an ounce on Wednesday.