Morning wrap (22.11.2021)

• Stocks in Asia traded mostly higher at the beginning of a new week. Nikkei gained 0.1%, Kospi moved 1.4% higher and indices from China advanced. S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6%

• European and US futures are trading slightly above Friday's closing prices

• In spite of his last week's pledge, Joe Biden did not announce his decision on who will be the next Fed Chair yet. It is said that more clarity will be offered early this week as White House is expected to announce decision ahead of Thanksgiving

• Japanese Prime Minister Kishida confirmed that release of strategic oil reserves is one of the options under consideration. However, it is said that volume of any release will be small

• Forex Committee, backed by People's Bank of China, took actions aimed at limiting yuan speculation by proprietary traders at banks

• Australia will allow vaccinated visitors from South Korea and Japan to enter the country. New Zealand will move to a less restrictive Covid-19 alert system, starting from next Friday

• German authorities are considering whether to follow Austria and order compulsory Covid-19 vaccinations

• President of El Salvador announced that his country we hold a bond offering, entirely in Bitcoin, and proceeds will be used to construct an ocean-side city

• Bitcoin regained some ground over the weekend and tested $60,000 area. However, the coin is pulling back again today and currently trades near $57,000

• Precious metals trade mixed - gold and silver drop while platinum and palladium advance

• Oil trades slightly lower while industrial metals trade mixed

• AUD and NZD are the best performing major currencies while CHF and JPY lag the most

Bitcoin tried to recover from last week's drop over the weekend and managed to climb back to the 23.6% retracement in the $60,000 area. However, the coin failed to break above and dropped to $57,000. Source: xStation5