Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Friday

Published 2017-12-15, 06:12 a/m
Updated 2017-12-15, 06:55 a/m
© Reuters.  5 key factors for the markets on Friday

© Reuters. 5 key factors for the markets on Friday

Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Friday, December 15:

1. Tax bill faces another round of challenge

At the end of a week that has seen a deluge of monetary policy decisions from the likes of the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England, among others, attention stateside is refocusing on the constant battle to push through tax reform before the end of the year.

The most recent setback came from Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Mike Lee who said they would vote against the most recent version unless the refundable portion of the child tax credit is increased.

The opposition places the bill in danger as the Republicans hold only a narrow majority in the Senate.

Some type of compromise is hoped to be reached on Friday to proceed with “final” voting expected early next week.

2. Tax woes pressure dollar

The dollar remained moderately lower against other major currencies on Friday, amid fresh concerns over U.S. tax overhaul plans. That was despite the fact that the Fed moved ahead on Wednesday with its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.

At 6:10AM ET (11:10GMT), the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.4217% at 93.44.

With market participants chewing over developments related to the tax plan, they will also keep an eye on data out later in the session. The NY Empire State manufacturing index for December will be released at 8:30AM ET (13:30GMT) while November industrial production will be published at 9:15AM ET (14:15GMT).

3. Brexit concerns weaken sterling

Despite the generalized dollar weakness, the pound was unable to lift its head on Friday as investors fretted over developments with the ongoing negotiations between Britain and the European Union over the UK’s departure from the bloc.

Even though EU leaders are expected to agree to move on to the second major round of talks dealing with future trade arrangements, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker declared that the second phase would be harder than the first which he defined as already “very difficult”.

At 6:11AM ET (11:11GMT), GBP/USD was last down 0.15% at 1.3411.

4. Trump backs Disney-Fox deal

The White House revealed that U.S. President Donald Trump approves of the deal between Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOX).

Disney plans to buy assets from Fox in a deal worth more than $52 billion in stock with the intention of picking up more content for when it launches its own streaming service.

“I know that the President spoke with Rupert Murdoch earlier today, congratulated him on the deal and thinks that, to use one of the president’s favorite words, that this could be a great thing for jobs and certainly looks forward to and hoping to see a lot more of those,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders stated.

The deal is likely a review by the Department of Justice on the basis of antitrust, but Trump’s approval will likely help it move through unobstructed.

5. Oil prices on the rise ahead of U.S. shale production data

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, but were on track for only meager weekly gains of around 0.1% as market participants looked ahead to data on U.S. output.

Later on Friday, market participants will also keep an eye on U.S. shale production when Baker Hughes releases its most recent weekly rig count data.

The lack of a large move in oil this week is due to concerns over the fact that increases in U.S. shale production may offset OPEC’s attempts to rebalance markets by curbing output through the end of 2018.

Supporting crude bulls this week was the ongoing outage of the Forties pipeline, which carries North Sea oil to Britain.

U.S. crude oil futures rose 0.65% to $57.41 at 6:12AM ET (11:12GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.28% to $63.49

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.