Gold (-0.15%) once again is fighting with the $1900 level overnight leading into the EU open. Heading into the US election there seems to be lots of hesitation and the price looks like it’s reached equilibrium for now. Silver trades just above flat this morning and is testing a support level $24.32 per ounce. Both gold and silver looked like they had some upside momentum early on Monday’s session but this fizzled out much like the risk-on sentiment during the US session.
Overnight the Nikkei 225 (-0.44%) and ASX (-0.72%) followed on from the negative tone in the US to close lower. The fiscal stimulus still seems to be the main theme at the moment. The latest comments came from US chief of staff Medows who said the sides have moved closer but “nobody is popping the champagne corks yet”. US Senate leader McConnell speaking, says will vote on stimulus this week so hopefully, we will get a resolution. Lastly, Pelosi and Mnuchin spoke to media outlets on Monday and encouragingly ‘continued to narrow their differences’.
In FX the antipodeans were the underperformers as both RBA and RBNZ central bankers jawboned their currencies overnight. NZD/USD trades just over half a percent lower after RBNZ governor Orr said that monetary policy has limits and that the RBNZ needs to operate with a medium-term focus. AUD/USD (-0.34%) is slightly better of after RBA’s Kent stated the monetary policy board is considering the case for further easing.
Looking ahead we hear from Fed’s Williams, Evans and Quarles, BoE’s Vlieghe. The main data highlights are the US building permits and earnings from UBS, Phillip Morris, Lockheed Martin, P&G and Netflix.