Today's trading was marked by a clear weakening of the Yuan (-0.55%) against the $ (7.1700) and the Euro, while the Shenzhen stock market fell by -5.1%, the 3 main Chinese markets (Shanghai) dropped by -1.8%, and Hong Kong lost -2.3%.
Otherwise, the session was very calm for the Euro/Dollar parity, which is stuck at around $1.0830.
The Euro is holding up well despite some not-so-good GDP figures: in France, GDP remained stable in the fourth quarter (-0.02%), according to data published this morning by Insee, after having already remained unchanged in the third quarter (revised by +0.1%).
On average over the year 2023, French GDP rose by 0.9% (after +2.5% in 2022 and +6.4% in 2021)... and the government is clinging to a forecast of +1.4% in 2024.
The good news is that French household spending rose by +0.3% in December, but this was not enough to keep our GDP in positive territory.

The Dollar Index fell by -0.1% to 103.50 as the 'Jolts' report on job vacancies in the US came in above expectations: 9.026 million jobs were unfilled in December, compared with 8.925 million in November.
Still on the employment front, the ADP report (private sector employment) will be published tomorrow, a good precursor to Friday's release of the monthly US employment report (NFP), which will provide further information on the US economy.

Forex traders are also backing the Fed's 'status quo' outlook tomorrow... but what will make the difference are any clues regarding the timing of future rate cuts distilled - or not - tomorrow at Jerome Powell's press conference.

The Pound and the Yen were the weakest currencies (at the margin, nothing noteworthy), falling -0.25% against the Euro and -0.2% against the Dollar, while the Swiss Franc eroded -0.15% against all currencies after a fine outperformance the previous day.

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