The dollar continues to fall after the latest Fed member comments
The US dollar continued to weaken as investors grew confident the Fed would cut rates in the first half of 2024.
The US dollar
The USD continued to weaken as investors grew confident the Fed would cut rates in the first half of 2024. Gold rose to a near-three-month high.
The euro
The EUR will be under scrutiny on Wednesday afternoon at the release of macroeconomic indicators on both sides of the Atlantic. In Germany at 1 p.m., consumer price index (CPI) growth is forecast to further decelerate to 3.5% in November YoY, up from 3.8% the previous month. To find a lower inflation rate, we have to go back to June 2021. Even though the European Central Bank (ECB) will have to look at the inflation of all countries in the Eurozone, Germany's CPI data could potentially move the euro.
US GDP
In the US, currency traders await the second reading of gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter. Economists anticipate an annualised expansion of 5%, the most since the last quarter of 2021. The first reading showed a 4.9% rise.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand
As expected, New Zealand's central bank held the cash rate steady at 5.5%, but the hawkish tone of the statement surprised many in the market. "If inflationary pressures were to be stronger than anticipated, the OCR would likely need to increase further," the statement said.
Halfords
Halfords posted an underlying profit before tax up 15.8% to £21.3 billion. Revenue rose 13.9% to £873.5 million.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise
Over in the US, Hewlett Packard Enterprise narrowly beat earnings expectations in Q3. On an adjusted basis, the firm earned 52 cents per share, beating analysts" average estimate of 50 cents. Revenue came in line with the forecast at $7.35 billion. HPE expects revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 to be in the range of $6.9 billion to $7.3 billion, compared to estimates of $7.28 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) is forecast between 42 and 50 cents, against estimates of 47 cents.
Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree is due to report before the market opens. The street anticipates earnings of $1.01 per share on revenue of $7.4 billion. A year ago, earnings came in at $1.20 and revenue was just under the $7 billion mark. Dollar tree stock has had a difficult quarter. The August-September drop was mainly a reaction to the group's last set of results.
Crude oil
On Tuesday evening, the latest Application Programming Interface (API) data showed an 817,000-barrel decline in crude oil stocks. Gasoline inventories also fell by nearly 900,000, while distillate stocks rose by 2.8 million barrels. The upcoming OPEC+ meeting is really what holds the market's attention. According to the latest Reuters reports, talks appear to be difficult.
The deeper cuts that were talked about earlier this week may not happen, and a further delay to the meeting is even possible. The meeting has already been delayed since November 26. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) is sources said this was because of a disagreement over output levels for African producers.
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