The Bank of England kept rates unchanged and expanded its asset purchases by GBP 100bn to GBP 745bn. The BoE would have held back rather than going all out to leave some room for more accommodation if things deteriorate further, especially if the UK and EU are not able to hammer out a trade deal by the end of the transition period.
US jobless claims came in at 1.5mn against expectations of 1.3mn. Continuing claims continued to remain elevated at 20.5mn. US employment data continues to paint a different picture than other high-frequency indicators.
EU leaders will try to iron out differences over the proposed EUR 750bn EU recovery plan in a virtual summit. The recovery plan has proposed EUR 500bn to be disbursed as grants and EUR 250bn to be disbursed as loans.
The “Frugal four” countries; Denmark, Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands are in favor of disbursing the entire amount in the form of loans as grants would have to be repaid by all EU taxpayers
The rupee is likely to open around 76.28 and trade at 76.10-76.45 range. Asian currencies are flat against the USD and are trading with a slight positive bias.
Eur 1.1212, Gbp 1.2432, Aud 0.6862, Jpy 106.91, Cnh 7.0772, WTI 39.20, Gold 1726, US 10y 0.70%, US 2y 0.19%, India 10y 6%, Dow -39pts, DXY 97.40