Today's news headlines: 

‘Powell says Omicron adds economic risks, inflation uncertainty’. In a testimony released on Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Omicron variant poses downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation. While no mention of monetary policy or the pace of tapering asset purchases was made, the central bank’s mandate is under threat. (Bloomberg)

‘Moderna chief predicts existing vaccines will struggle with Omicron’. Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel is predicting current vaccines will be significantly less effective against the Omicron variant versus previous variants, warning it would take months before new vaccines can be manufactured at a large scale. He added, ‘I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data.’ (Financial Times) 

Today

European and US equity futures tumbled on Tuesday over new concerns over current vaccine efficacy against Omicron. Safe-havens were in demand, as bonds and the Japanese Yen climbed while crude oil and commodity currencies fell.

Events

Chinese Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (Nov): 50.1 (exp. 49.7)
French Consumer Price Index YoY (Nov): 2.8% (exp. 2.6%)
French Gross Domestic Product YoY (Nov): 3.3% (exp. 3.3%)
Eurozone CPI YoY (Nov): 10:00AM
Canadian Quarterly GDP Annualised: 1:30PM
US MNI Chicago PMI: 2:45PM
US CB Consumer Confidence: 3:00PM

Interbank rates:

GBP/USD – 1.3335
GBP/EUR – 1.1765
EUR/USD – 1.1334
USD/CAD – 1.2792

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