Markets mixed ahead of US inflation report - 12.2.2025

The Dollar weakening has halted today. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, ended 0.4% lower on Tuesday.

GBP/USD joined EUR/USD’s slowed advancing yesterday. Both Pound and euro are little changed against the dollar currently. USD/JPY accelerated its advancing while AUD/USD slowed its climbing on Tuesday with both the yen and Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are down currently with the yield on benchmark 10-year US notes up at 4.541%. Stock indexes ended mixed on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was in no rush to cut its short-term interest rate again given the economy is “strong overall”, with low unemployment and inflation still above the Fed’s 2 per cent target. The three main benchmarks recorded daily returns in the range from -0.36% to 0.28%.

European stock indexes are higher currently after closing up on Tuesday as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said European Union planned to retaliate against the United States for new “unjustified” steel and aluminum tariffs. Asian indexes futures are mixed today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading gains as Chinese tech and electric vehicle stocks surged amid AI hype around domestic AI breakthroughs from DeepSeek.

Brent is edging lower currently. Prices extended gains yesterday as US sanctions targeting tankers, producers and insurers have significantly disrupted shipments of Russian oil to leading importers China and India. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1.4% but is lower currently. Brent gained 1.5% to $77.00 a barrel on Tuesday.