FOREX MARKETS IN CONSOLIDATION AS THE DOLLAR BULL RUN STALLS

 With the rise in the US 10 year Treasury yield taking a breather, the US dollar rally has run out of steam, at least temporarily. This is driving a consolidation across forex majors, but with the dollar having rallied 10% against the likes of the yen in the past couple of weeks there is still the prospect of a corrective move. Despite this though, US equities continue to pull higher, with the Dow hitting 19,000 for the first time ever and the S&P 500 over 2200 for the first time ever. This is dragging the European markets higher too but they are yet to breach key resistance levels and it will be interesting to see if the DAX can manage to break through the 10,800 level which has been so difficult in recent months. The FOMC meeting minutes tonight will be interesting for signs of just how hawkish the committee was leaning before Trump’s reflation rhetoric came to impact expectations. The impact of the minutes may be a little subdued as things have moved on so significantly since the FOMC meeting at the beginning of November. In the UK, Chancellor Phillip Hammond (finance minister) holds his first key economic speech in the UK Autumn Statement where he is expected to announce more of a fiscal expansion than his predecessor George Osborne.