Global stocks retreated today as traders continued to watch the streaming election results from the United States. In Europe, the DAX index, Stoxx 50, and CAC 40 declined by more than 1.40%. Similarly, in the United States, futures linked to the Dow Jones and S&P 500 dropped by more than 0.87% and 1%, respectively. Results released so far show that Joe Biden has a simpler path to victory as he overtook the incumbent in Georgia. The race has also narrowed in Pennsylvania, where Trump had a significant lead. At the same time, investors are also focusing on the legal challenge the president has filed in several states.
The US dollar wavered today as traders reacted to the interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve. As the bank had guided before, it left interest rates and quantitative easing program unchanged. Jerome Powell also said that the bank had multiple tools available to stimulate the economy. Today, the currency also reacted to nonfarm payroll numbers. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), the economy added more than 638k jobs in October. That was lower than the previous month’s 660k. The unemployment rate declined from 7.9% to 6.9% while the average hourly earnings rose at an annualised pace of 4.5%.
The Canadian dollar was little changed today as the market received the October employment numbers. According to Statistics Canada, the total employment change increased by more than 83.6k. That increase was lower than the previous reading of 378k. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell from 9.0% to 8.9% while the participation rate increased from 65.0% to 65.2%. The loonie also reacted to low crude oil prices as Brent and West Texas Intermediate fell by more than 2.6%.
EUR/USD
On the hourly chart, the EUR/USD rose to a high of 1.1860 yesterday. It then pared back these gains and retested 1.1790 and then bounced back to the current level of 1.1860. The price remains above the 25-day and 15-day exponential moving averages. It is also along the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement, which is evidence that bulls are in control. Therefore, the pair is likely to continue rising as bulls aim for the next resistance at 1.1870.
EUR/GBP
The EUR/GBP price is up slightly today as traders react to the weak Halifax house price index data from the UK. On the four-hour chart, the price is between the descending trendline that is shown in green below. It has also moved above the 25-day and 15-day exponential moving averages while the Average True Range (ATR) indicator has continued to rise. Therefore, the pair is likely to continue rising as bulls aim for the upper side of the channel at 0.9050.
USD/CAD
The USD/CAD pair is little changed after the Canadian and US jobs numbers were released. On the four-hour chart, the pair has declined from a weekly high of 1.3390 to a low of 1.3025. The RSI is close to the overbought level of 70 while the price is still below the short and medium-term moving averages. The pair is likely to remain at the current range with the key support and resistance levels being at 1.3015 and 1.3100, respectively.
