Daily thread to exchange ideas and to share your thoughts

Blink and you miss it. December is here and we're on to the final trading month of the calendar year. It's been nearly two years of us living with this pandemic already but it sure feels like forever, doesn't it?

Fed chair Powell's remarks yesterday were arguably the most important development so far this week as he pushed to retire the 'transitory' inflation narrative and advocated a quicker timing for tapering, paving the way for quicker rate hikes potentially.

As much as omicron fears are still reverberating, Powell's confidence certainly takes some of the sting out of that. Stocks though didn't see much comfort amid rate hike fears yesterday but are rebounding back today with S&P 500 futures now seen up around 1%.

Risk trades in general are faring better with the aussie and kiwi holding key support levels on the daily chart from the August lows, both erasing their post-Powell losses.

Trading sentiment today will continue to be dictated by risk sentiment for the most part but Powell's remarks will likely keep the dollar buoyed too, more so against the likes of the euro and yen arguably (the latter still depends on the market mood).

Elsewhere, oil is seeing a decent rebound of around 3% to above $68 now as we start to turn the focus to OPEC+ but after yesterday's plunge, there is a sense that the latest downdraft may be overdone and bargain hunters are likely to slowly step in.

What are your views on the market right now? Share your thoughts/ideas with the ForexLive community here.