Forexlive Asia-pacific FX news wrap 5 Dec: Two-words: Bitcoin $100K

• IW Institute: German unemployment rate will rise to 6.2% in 2025 from 6.0% in 2024.
• Mixed picture in the Asian Pacific stock indices
• Bitcoin $100K. Digital currency reaches the next key milestone.
• Trump Advisor: Trump wants to implement a Gaza cease-fire deal ASAP
• BOJs Nakamura: Not confident about sustainability of wage growth
• Australia Balance of trade for October 5.953B vs 4.550B estimate
• Japan foreign bond investment for the week 922.4B vs -779.1B (revised)
• SF Fed Pres. Mary Daly: We do not need to be urgent
• Kickstart the new trading day on Dec 5 w/ a technical look at EURUSD, USDJPY & GBPUSD
• The 3 major US indices close the day at record levels
• Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Dollar unswayed by Powell, sags on softer ISM services
• The crypto market heats up as ethereum leads bitcoin higher

Markets

• Bitcoin +4,480 at $103,254
• Gold down -$2.76 or -0.10% at $2646.75
• US 2-year yield 4.138%, +1.7 basis points
• US 10-year yield 4.193%, up 1.0 basis points
• WTI crude oil near unchanged at $68.55
• Nikkei 225, up 172 points or 0.44%
• Shanghai composite +0.16% in
• Hong Kongs Hang Seng -1.0%
• China CSI300 -0.13%
• So.Korea Kospi -0.45

The US dollar is little changed with the DXY dollar index is down -0.02% in what was a listless start to tthe trading day.

• EUR, -0.10
• JPY -0.25%
• GBP, unchanged
• CHF unchanged
• CAD, unchanged
• AUD -0.06%
• NZD -0.29%

The low to high trading ranges are likewise limited with 5 of the 7 major currency pairs with ranges of less than 20 pips. :

• EURUS 17 pips
• USDJPY 59 pips
• GBPUSD19 pips
• USDCHF 13 pips
• USDCAD 14 pips
• AUDUSD 16 pips
• NZDUSD 23 pips

The forex day was limited with the NZDUSD and the USDJPY leading with way with changes of 0.29% and 25% respectively (higher vs the USD for both). The other currency pairs vs the were either unchanged or within 0.10% of unchanged

While no eyes were focused on the USD and forex, all eyes were on the digital currencies.

• Bitcoin is trading up $4,400 or 4.5% and surpassed the Bitcoin $100K level for the first time ever. The price is currently trading at $103,300.
• Ethereum is up $16 or 0.42% at $3860
• Doge is up 0.026 or 6.17% at $0.46

The digital currencies got a boost yesterday when Fed Chair Powell equated Bitcoin to Gold and basically didn’t endorse nor deny it’s existence. Maybe he is trying to stay on the good side of the new administration but given his prior comments, I doubt it. The fact is people trade bitcoin so let it trade.

The US is still a day away from the US jobs report, but the weekly claims and the challenger job cuts will be announced in the US session later today.

In Europe, German Factory orders and EU retail sales will be announced. Below is the full schedule (ET).

• 1:45 AM (CHF):

  • Unemployment Rate: Forecast 2.7%, Previous 2.6%

• 2:00 AM (EUR):

  • German Factory Orders m/m: Forecast -2.0%, Previous 4.2%

• 2:45 AM (EUR):

  • French Industrial Production m/m: Forecast 0.2%, Previous -0.9%

• 4:30 AM (GBP):

  • Construction PMI: Forecast 53.5, Previous 54.3

• 5:00 AM (EUR):

  • Retail Sales m/m: Forecast -0.3%, Previous 0.5%

• Tentative (EUR):

  • Spanish 10-year Bond Auction: Previous Yield 2.92 | 1.7

• All Day (All):

  • OPEC-JMMC Meetings

• 7:30 AM (USD):

  • Challenger Job Cuts y/y: Previous 50.9%

• 8:30 AM (CAD):

  • Trade Balance: Forecast -1.0B, Previous -1.3B
  • Unemployment Claims (USD): Forecast 215K, Previous 213K
  • Trade Balance (USD): Forecast -75.2B, Previous -84.4B

• 10:00 AM (CAD):

  • Ivey PMI: Forecast 53.1, Previous 52.0

Good fortune with your trading.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.