NY Open: May Day for dissidents?
Summary: UK Prime Minister Theresa May could have the last laugh of the day after all with oddsmakers placing her chances of overcoming this evening's Conservative Party confidence vote at 86%.
The GBPUSD rally helped to turn the fortunes around for other beleaguered G10 major currencies. EURUSD climbed alongside Cable, rising from 1.1334 to 1.1364 in a move aided by soft, but as expected US November inflation data. (CPI actual 0.0% versus October's 0.3%, m/m). It has not, however, recouped losses from yesterday’s open. Traders are also trimming positions in case Mario Draghi chirps a tad hawkishly at tomorrow’s post-ECB press conference.
The Australian and Canadian dollars have scraped out gains since yesterday and added to them in New York trading. Both currencies are deriving support from a modestly better tone to the China/US trade talks. USDCAD was undermined by the pop in WTI oil prices overnight. However, they have since retreated, which may limit USDCAD losses.
Once again, Wall Street opened with a “pop.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1.73% as of 1415 GMT. The S&P 500 jumped 1.41%, and the Nasdaq surged 1.73%. Traders are hoping that this move has legs as morning gains have not been there at the closing bell. So far, traders are ignoring the threat of a US government shutdown.