Here is what you need to know on Thursday, December 2:
Major currency pairs struggled to make a decisive move in either direction on Wednesday as investors paid little to no attention to high-tier data releases from the US. FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell repeated his remarks on the policy outlook on the second day of his testimony. Ahead of Friday's November jobs report, the weekly Initial Jobless Claims data will be featured in the US economic docket. Eurostat will release October Unemployment Rate and Producer Price Index figures.
While testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Powell reiterated that it was appropriate to consider a faster taper and noted that they need to move on from the word "transitory" when describing inflation. Despite Powell's hawkish tone, the 10-year US Treasury bond yield lost nearly 3% on Wednesday before staging a rebound early Thursday. The 10-year yield is currently up 2.5% at 1.45%, helping the greenback stay resilient against its rivals. The US Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar's performance against a basket of six major currencies, is moving sideways near 96.00.
Anthony Fauci, Director at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said on Thursday that Americans don't need to alter their travel plans after they have detected the Omicron variant in the US. However, several reports suggest that travellers will be required to wear masks on aeroplanes, trains and buses through mid-Marc. Nevertheless, US stocks futures are trading in the positive territory in the early European session, suggesting that the market mood is likely to remain upbeat in the second half of the day.
EUR/USD fluctuated in a tight range above 1.1300 on Wednesday and continues to move sideways early Thursday.
GBP/USD closed in the negative territory on Wednesday and seems to have gone into a consolidation phase around 1.3300.
USD/JPY is edging higher on the back of rising US Treasury bond yields on Thursday and was last seen rising 0.5% on the day at 113.25.
Gold climbed above $1,790 in the early American session on Wednesday but erased a large portion of its daily gains before closing at $1,782. As of writing, XAU/USD was posting small losses at $1,776.
Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin is staying near $57,000 after losing its recovery momentum before reaching $60,000 on Wednesday. Ethereum retreated to $4,500 area after snapping a four-day winning streak on Wednesday.
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