A relatively quiet Thursday coming up for markets as the New Year’s public holiday comes to an end.

The EURUSD continued to edge up as it rounded out 2019. It opened on Tuesday at $1.11972 before dipping to a low of $1.11964 in the opening hour of trade. The pair lifted slightly in early trade, with the gains accelerating mid-session, hitting a high of $1.12387 late in the day. It came off those highs, closing 2019 at $1.12097. It is not far off the 2019 close, currently trading at $1.12122. The GBPUSD rallied strongly on the final day of the year after opening at $1.31123. The pair dipped to lows of $1.31029 in the opening hour and remained steady early in the day. Mid-session trading saw the pound take off, rallying to a high of $1.32840 late in the day before closing 2019 at $1.32580. It has started the new year slightly lower, currently trading at $1.32453.

The Dow made some modest gains to round out 2019 after beginning the day at 28,456.40. The index remained steady in early trading before sliding to lows of 28,364.05 mid-session. Late trading saw the Dow close at a high of 28,575.50. The Dax was closed on Tuesday, having ended Monday’s session at 13,130.80.

The day ahead is somewhat quiet as far as volume of data goes as countries slowly come back from the New Year’s holiday. The most significant piece of data being published today is the Caixin Manufacturing PMI data from China. It is expected to post an expansionary figure of 51.7, slightly down from the 51.8 recorded at the last reading.

Other data published today includes:

Australia – Commodity Prices

Canada – Manufacturing PMI

UK – Final Manufacturing PMI

US – Challenger Job Cuts, Final Manufacturing PMI

Europe – European, German and French Final Manufacturing PMIs, Italian and Spanish Manufacturing PMIs

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