Here is what you need to know on Thursday, September 3:
The greenback extended its advance against most of its major rivals, holding on to gains and poised to extend its advance.
The EUR was pressured by comments from ECB’s Committee member Lane, who said that they don’t look at the exchange rate, but adding that the “euro-dollar rate does matter,” after the pair hit 1.20 earlier this week, somehow suggesting policymakers don’t want such an appreciation of their currency.
The BOE presented its annual report, triggering some Pound’s intraday selling. Deputy Governor Ramsden said that policymakers could step up the pace of quantitative easing if needed. ”We could do it fast if market dysfunction required it.” Governor Bailed added that it’s very important for the BoE’s framework to be robust enough so they can “go big and go fast.”
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced his candidature to replace PM Abe. Suga is among the favorite candidates towards the election vote to take place next September 14. Suga will likely follow Abe’s policies and won’t represent a major shift.
The US government said it won’t participate in the COVAX initiative, after breaking up with the WHO. COVAX stands for COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, a joint global effort to develop, manufacture and distribute a vaccine to cure coronavirus and distribute it evenly. In a separated event, US director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Fauci, said that there could be a vaccine ready by the year-end. The number of global cases has surpassed 26 million, while the death toll is at 864K.
European indexes closed with solid gains, while Wall Street followed the lead. The DJIA added roughly 400 points while the S&P kept reaching record highs.
Commodities came under strong selling pressure. Gold is down for the day, currently at around $1,940 a troy ounce, while crude oil prices also shed ground. WTI settled at $41.30 a barrel.