Forex Today: Financial markets take a breath ahead of US employment data

What you need to know on Thursday, December 2:

Fears cooled down on Wednesday, resulting in major pairs holding into familiar levels. The greenback ended the day mixed, firmer against commodity-linked rivals but down against other safe-haven currencies.

The cautious optimism came from the World Health Organization, as it said that current vaccines could still offer protection against the new Omicron coronavirus variant, preventing severe illness. Also, the WHO reported that so far,  the new strain seems to be causing milder symptoms and illness.  

US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell testified again before a different Senate Commission and repeated that inflation has spread more broadly and that the risk of persistent inflation has risen. However, he also said that, while they need to remove the world “transitory,” he still believes inflation will come down “meaningfully” in the second half of 2022. 

Asian and European indexes closed in the green, while Wall Street opened with a positive tone but trimmed most of its intraday gains ahead of the close. Meanwhile, US Treasury yields ticked modestly higher, with the 10-year note yielding 1.44% at the time being.

The EUR/USD pair trades around 1.1320, while GBP/USD stands at 1.3280, both at risk of falling further. The AUD/USD pair trades at around 0.7110, while USD/CAD is pressuring daily highs in the 1.2830 price zone.

Gold remains under pressure, currently trading at $1,780 a troy ounce. Crude oil prices edged lower, with WTI now at around $65.75 a barrel.

The focus now shifts to US employment figures ahead of the Nonfarm Payrolls report to be out next Friday. The country is expected to have added 550K new jobs in November, quite a healthy reading in terms of monetary policy.

Ethereum price builds the momentum to hit new all-time highs

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