Main Headlines:
US companies will have two months to implement the Biden administration’s new Covid-19 “vaccine or test” mandate or face fines as high as $130,000, officials have announced. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) said on Thursday it would begin enforcing the new rules, which will apply to any company with 100 employees or more, from January 4. Joe Biden said in September he would introduce the mandate as coronavirus infection rates climbed and vaccination rates slowed. The US president said it would help protect workers from Covid, although Republican governors have fiercely opposed it, threatening to sue the administration.
The Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey presented the central bank’s new inflation forecast and decision to hold back on immediately raising interest rates. Bailey, who fuelled expectations of a rate rise last month by saying the BoE must tackle inflation, gave three contradictory messages. First, that the BoE Monetary Policy Committee is much more concerned about inflation than it was previously, and interest rates really are going to rise “over coming months”. Second, that it was good to wait and see before taking action because the outlook for economic growth had darkened. Third, that his comments last month about taming inflation had been “truisms”.
Markets
GBP
Sterling is higher against the dollar and lower against the euro in overnight trade. France’s Clement Beaune said his meeting in Paris with Brexit minister Lord Frost had been “useful and positive”, but significant differences remained. But there was no breakthrough and there will be more talks next week. Tensions flared last month after the UK and Jersey denied fishing permits to several French boats. France has threatened to stop British trawlers from landing their catches at French ports unless more permits are granted in return covering UK waters. The topic of fishing licences for 200 French boats is a key point of negotiation, whilst Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said the French government had given assurances that hostile threats against British boats would cease.
EUR
The euro is well-bid against most majors overnight. Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday called a snap election for January 30, after the minority Socialist government was defeated in a key budget vote last week. The election comes at an awkward time for Portuguese politics, with the rupture of the loose left-wing alliance that has kept Prime Minister António Costa in power since 2015 and the centre-right opposition in disarray. The European region is now the “epicenter” of the global pandemic and is on a trajectory to see another half a million deaths this winter, the head of the World Health Organization’s Europe region warned Thursday. Tom Vennink, Russia correspondent for the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, has been thrown out of the country by Russian authorities over “administrative violations.”
USD
The dollar is lower against most majors in early morning trade. An indictment returned in federal court on Thursday casts doubt on the sources of a series of salacious and largely discredited reports about former President Donald Trump and Russia that the FBI ultimately used in support of a counterintelligence investigation into his 2016 campaign and associates. Russian-born Igor Danchenko was charged with five counts of making false statements to officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the sources of the information he helped compile for Christopher Steele’s dossier.
Ballinger & Co. Morning Report–05th November 2021
Today’s Rates
GBP>EUR – 1.1654
GBP>USD – 1.3450
EUR>USD – 1.1540
GBP>CAD – 1.6671
GBP>AUD – 1.8224
GBP>SEK – 11.551
GBP>AED – 4.9395
GBP>HKD – 10.470
GBP>ZAR – 20.545
GBP>CHF – 1.2300
Today’s Calendar
· EUR Retail Sales (YoY)(Sep)
· USD Nonfarm Payrolls(Oct)
· CAD Unemployment Rate(Oct)
· CAD Net Change in Employment(Oct)
Today’s Highlights
· Forex Today: Wrapping up hectic week with US Nonfarm Payrolls
· EUR/USD Forecast: Next bearish target aligns at 1.1500 unless NFP hurts dollar
· Canadian Jobs Preview: Forecasts from five major banks, some hiring softness ahead
· GBP/USD: Strength of BoE pushback against higher rates hits the pound – MUFG
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