Australia the best poor performer

Today's Highlights

Stocks higher as volume drops off

Australia the best poor performer

Bank of Canada tonight

Please note: All data, figures & graphs below are valid as of December 7th. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you're prepared to lose.

Market Overview

The stock market excitement is still going strong, with all major indices around the world gaining in the last 24 hours and the DJ30 has closed on another record high. This as the volatility has completely died out.

Over the last few weeks we'd gotten used to a ramp up in volatility from about an hour before the US market open and lasting a good hour or two into the session. That did happen yesterday but on a much smaller scale.

If you want to see just how flat the markets are at the moment, check out this graph of the EURUSD over the last few hours...

Perhaps markets are preparing for Draghi or the Fed, or maybe they're winding down before the end of the year. Either way, we still have two major announcements before Christmas and the bigger one is tomorrow.

Down Under

One thing that did go bump in the night is the Aussie Dollar. The GDP figures that were expected to come out slightly positive were announced at -0.5%. The silver lining of course is that this is Australia's fourth quarterly contraction in the last 25 years. So at this point, even a bad number only serves to highlight how stable the economy actually is.

The shock factor was even greater due to the statement just yesterday from the RBA that was incredibly upbeat. This is a real slap in the face to Governor Philip Lowe...

Some of our clients used this dip as an opportunity to get in at a lower price.

Later today

Today we have some manufacturing data and a bond auction in the UK, which could determine the next direction on the Pound. The GBPUSD has been retreating from her highs and a push in either direction could be significant.

The Bank of Canada will be up today with their interest rate statement. The probability of a rate cut is just 3.5% so if they do decide to surprise the markets the impact would be huge, but that is extremely unlikely. The Loony lately has been more connected with the price of oil than it has been with the central bank's actions.

Tonight we'll hear from the governor of the RBNZ, and then later some figures from Japan and Chinese Trade Balance.

Overall, the markets are now in pre-Draghi mode. There could be some last minute adjustments before the big announcement tomorrow but more likely we see a lot of calm trading until then.