Asian stocks jumped higher, encouraged by big gains by their American counterparts yesterday, with Japan's Nikkei up 1.32% to 19,904, while Australia's S&P\ASX 200 index soared 2.04%. Korea's KOSPI gained 0.93%, while India's Nifty rose 0.81%. Chinese shares bucked the trend however, with Shanghai index trading flat at 3,568.
Minutes from the last Fed meeting showed that even though policy makers were ready to hike rates in December, they're going to be very gradual and cautious afterwards. The revelations knocked the dollar out of its recent highs, with its index down 0.40% to 99.27. Dollar fell to a two-week low against Sterling at 1.5279 with a 0.30% loss. It dipped 0.42% against Euro to 1.0705, while slipping 0.27% against yen to 123.30.
Bank of Japan left its current policy unchanged yesterday as expected without more easing; yen slid however, touching a near three-month low against Sterling at 188.79 before recovering a bit to 188.40, with a 0.05% loss. Yen fell to a one-week low against Euro at 131.99 with a 0.20% loss.
Wall Street ended yesterday's trading with substantial gains, with Dow Jones closing up 247 points, or 1.42% to 17,737. NASDAQ rallied 89 points, or 1.79% to 5,075. S&P 500 rose 33 points, or 1.62% to 2,083.
U.S. Crude Oil Inventories rose only 0.3M last week, lower than the 2M addition expected, which helped U.S. oil futures to rise 27 cents, or 0.66% to $42.23 a barrel. Brent futures for December gained 25 cents, or 0.58% to $44.47 a barrel.
Gold prices gained ground as well, helped by the dollar's retreat. The metal's futures rose 7 dollars, or 0.66% to $1,075.70 an ounce. Silver futures advanced 10 cents, or 0.74% to $14.18 an ounce.
Britain's Retail Sales are forecast to have fallen 0.4% m\m in October, in contrast with September's 1.9% growth, adding to worries about the fourth quarter's growth. British inflation has been negative for two months in a row for the first time ever, if retail sales did fall, it might compromise the Sterling's recent strength.
From the U.S., Unemployment Claims are forecast to come at 272K for last week, slightly lower than the previous week's 276K. The lower the claims are the better for the currency and the jobs market.
From Canada, Wholesale Sales for September are forecast to have grown 0.2% m\m, which would help the loonie in its recent push higher.