APAC Morning Update - 6 Nov 2020

The election is still technically up in the air, but it is looking increasingly likely that Biden has won/will win. This has led to an increasingly risk on move, with the AUD looking strong and the Kiwi about to test the big 0.6800 level. Trump has stated that he will challenge all recent Biden claimed states for voter fraud. You get the feeling he is not going to go quietly…

We have a big range of data out of the States tonight, unemployment rate and employment change. Usually we would argue this would take a big back seat to the ongoing election saga, but tonight we're not so sure. Stocks have rallied hard, and are going up on any possible excuse. If we get some shockingly bad employment numbers though, it may not take much for the market to go; this election could drag on for months, fiscal stimulus could take longer, America is still reporting 100k Covid-19 cases per day, and retail hasn’t been doing that well since all the windows were boarded up to stop the riots. Maybe the risk on mood is not as strong as it looks, and you get the feeling it is going to be a buy the rumour, sell the fact of a Biden victory.

Global equity markets have continued to rally strongly - Dow +2.1%, S&P 500 +2.3%, FTSE +0.4%, DAX +2.0%, CAC +1.2%, Nikkei +1.7%, Shanghai +1.3%.

Gold prices are up 2.6% to USD$1,892 an ounce and WTI Crude Oil prices off 0.5% to US$38.9 per barrel.