Forex Today: Stocks, Crude Oil Hit New Highs

Risk-on sentiment continues to advance within global markets.

  • President Trump is presenting a fresh legal challenge alleging massive voter fraud in Georgia, but has allowed formal work to begin on a transition of power to Joe Biden on 20th January 2021. Legal experts see no chance of the President’s legal cases making progress so a Biden Presidency is assumed, with President Xi of China formally congratulating him yesterday on his election victory.
  • Stock markets are mostly higher over the Asian session after the S&P 500 Index closed down very slightly, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 Index up by more than 0.91% to reach a new all-time high price. Record high closes usually mean that stock markets are likely to continue to rise.
  • WTI Crude Oil is facing increasing demand and rose strongly again yesterday, trading at a new 8-month high price well above $45.

  • The British pound and the euro are the strongest major currencies, and the U.S. dollar and silver are the weakest. The EUR/USD and GBP/USD currency pairs closed again yesterday at new 50-day high prices, meaning their prices will probably rise again today. The EUR/USD may be invalidating long-term resistance at 1.1929, paving the way for a potential rise to 1.1964.
  • Yesterday’s U.S. FOMC Meeting Minutes release had almost no impact on the market as minutes revealed members keeping their options open over the asset purchase program.
  • There are some important data releases due today concerning the U.S. dollar. The FOMC will be releasing the minutes of its most recent meeting, and there will be releases of Preliminary GDP, Unemployment Claims, and Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment. U.S. GDP, unemployment, and consumer sentiment data released yesterday were all in line with expectations. U.S. GDP on a quarterly preliminary basis showed an increase of 33.1%.
  • Last Friday saw 665,605 confirmed new coronavirus cases diagnosed worldwide – a record high. New cases are increasing with an exponential trend.
  • Yesterday a record high number of 12,009 coronavirus deaths were reported globally.
  • Coronavirus daily global death tolls are continuing to increase sharply to new highs 60% higher than the former record peak made last April. Deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean continuing to fall, while rising strongly elsewhere, notably in Europe and in the U.S.A. The U.S.A. accounts for about 22% of global coronavirus deaths, Europe 47%, with Latin America at 19%.
  • The European Union is now seeing new coronavirus cases begin to fall, but is still more afflicted than any other geographical area, as lockdowns have an effect. New cases in the E.U. are considerably higher than in the U.S., with a higher amount of deaths too. However, these numbers are still increasing in the U.S. while the rate of new cases is clearly starting to decline in the E.U. although deaths continue to increase.
  • Total confirmed new coronavirus cases stand at over 60.3 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.35%.
  • The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burma, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Serbia, Sudan, Sweden, Turkey, U.S.A., Ukraine, and Uruguay.
Adam Lemon

Adam Lemon began his role at DailyForex in 2013 when he was brought in as an in-house Chief Analyst. Adam trades Forex, stocks and other instruments in his own account. Adam believes that it is very possible for retail traders/investors to secure a positive return over time provided they limit their risks, follow trends, and persevere through short-term losing streaks – provided only reputable brokerages are used. He has previously worked within financial markets over a 12-year period, including 6 years with Merrill Lynch.