Gold ( 0.27%) has pushed higher overnight during the Asian session after closing 1.63% lower yesterday. Silver has also recovered slightly moving 0.16% into the black. The risk sentiment overnight was poor the Nikkei 225 (0.11%) was the only index to close higher. The ASX fell 0.27%, Shanghai Comp dropped 0.55% and the South Korean Kospi was the main laggard down nearly 1%. This came after a poor handover from the US with stimulus talks and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine stalling. Eli Lilly and Co. compounded the bad news stating they would also pause their clinical trial due to “safety concerns”.

On the stimulus front, Senate Majority Leader McConnell stated he will table a stimulus deal worth $500 bln next week and House Speaker Pelosi said she has no intention to meet him until next week. Note that this new offer is much less than the $2.4 trillion starting point from the Democrats. 

In FX markets all of the aforementioned news led to some USD safe-haven flow. The dollar index traded 0.53% higher with the pound suffering worst against the greenback following some negative Brexit headlines. So far this morning, it is the UK currency that is being hit again with GBP/AUD trading 0.32% in the red. 

Looking ahead to today, data highlights include EU industrial production, US PPI and API inventories. There are a whole host of central bank speakers including ECB’s Lagarde, Lane, BoE’s Haldane, Fed’s Clarida, Quarles, Kaplan and BoC’s Lane. 

On the earnings front, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and United Airlines are the main highlights.