The Mexican peso, the unofficial measure of U.S. election outcome expectations, has continued strengthening in the wake of Wednesday night’s U.S. presidential debate. The peso was up 0.2 percent on the day to 18.4760, and was as high as 18.44 before the debate. Major currencies reacted little to the debate, and markets remained little moved during both Wednesday’s afternoon session and Thursday’s early morning trading session, likely because Hillary Clinton has come out ahead in recent polls due largely to Trump’s volatile nature and his negative comments against women.
The euro eased 0.1 percent on Thursday in advance of today’s ECB meeting to $1.0969, near the three-month lows of $10.955 that the pair it hit during Wednesday’s session. The pound remained steady at $1.2281, though traders are expecting potential volatility after today’s ECB meeting which will be the first attended by UK Prime Minister Theresa May since taking office after Brexit.
On Thursday the Australian dollar hit a two-month high of $0.7735 before slipping a total of 0.6 percent to $0.7679 after the employment report showed an expected drop in September’s employment, which raises the risk of interest rate cuts in the future.
Oil Fluctuations
Oil prices retreated slightly during Thursday’s Asian session after rising in Wednesday’s U.S. session. Brent was trading at $52.58 as of $11:44 HK/SIN, down 0.17percent after a rise of 1.9 percent overnight. U.S. crude futures dropped to $51.42 per barrel following a 2.6 percent gain during Wednesday’s U.S. session. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed that crude stockpiles fell 5.2 million barrels last week, crashing expectations for a 2.7 million-barrel increase, according to Reuters. Analysts expect that Thursday’s price dips were the result of profit-taking rather than a change in sentiment, and that the overall mood in the oil market remains confident.