Morning Update (01.12.2025)

📉 December opens with fading momentum
The early rebound on Wall Street is losing steam, even though this period is traditionally associated with the so-called Santa Claus Rally. The sharpest pullback is in Nasdaq 100 (US100: –0.9%) and Russell 2000 (US2000: –0.8%). US500 is down 0.7% and US30 slips 0.5%. In Europe, EU50 loses 0.4%, matching DE40, which erased gains from the previous two sessions.

🇺🇸 Fed leadership update from Trump
Donald Trump said he already knows whom he will nominate as the next Fed chair and will reveal the name soon. His chief economic advisor Kevin Hassett hinted the announcement may come before year-end.

🛢️ OPEC+ keeps limits in place
OPEC+ will maintain oil production caps through 2026 and approved a new mechanism to assess members’ maximum capacity for setting quotas from 2027. Eight countries also agreed to freeze output increases in Q1 2026.

🌏 Asia retreats after strong gains
Profit-taking and the Bank of Japan’s shift in tone weighed on the region. Nikkei 225 leads the declines (JP225: –1.9%) after BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda signalled a possible December rate hike. HSCEI (CHN.cash: –0.3%) and ASX200 (AU200.cash: –0.4%) also trade lower.

🇯🇵 BoJ signals tightening
Governor Ueda said the bank is “weighing the pros and cons” of raising rates in December — the strongest hint so far that Japan may resume its tightening cycle. Real rates remain very low, and further steps will depend on incoming data. Markets now price in a 60% chance of a December hike and 90% for January.
Japan’s manufacturing PMI came in at 48.7 (estimate 48.8), marking the fifth month of contraction, though business confidence hit a 10-month high.

💱 FX market: yen rebounds
The yen is recovering after weeks under pressure (USDJPY, EURJPY: –0.3%, GBPJPY: –0.4%). The dollar index is flat, with losses against the yen offset by gains versus emerging currencies (USDINR: +0.4%, USDZAR: +0.2%). Sterling is the softest G10 currency. EURUSD trades around 1.159.

🛢️ Commodities:
Oil prices are rising after the OPEC+ decision — Brent and WTI +1.9%. NATGAS corrects 1.8% after three strong sessions.

🥇 Metals in the green
Platinum and palladium lead gains (2.5% and 2.1%). Gold adds 0.4% to 4240 USD/oz, while silver hits a new ATH at 57 USD/oz (+0.9%).

💻 Crypto slides
Bitcoin drops 5.5% to 86,000 USD, and Ethereum falls 6.9% to 2830 USD.

👉 Stay tuned for more market insights on the NordFX website and social media.

🌅 Morning Update (01.12.2025) was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.