US equities snap five day losing streak, Oil tumbles on recession fears

US equities rose in Thursday’s session in a subdued risk environment ahead that saw traders tiptoeing ahead of next week’s US CPI figures and FOMC meeting.

US indexes broke a five-day losing streak with the Nasdaq advancing 1.1% after having its worst first week of December since 1975 and being the best performer in the session.

It was another relatively quiet day for macro news but recessionary fears were re-ignited somewhat after US continuing unemployment claims jumped to a 10-month high with Bloomberg noting, “claims data is pointing to a recession as continuing claims are above their one-year low by a margin that has always preceded a slump.”

This recession-threatening jobs data saw crude oil crashing after an earlier rip higher on news the Keystone pipeline was shut down due to a leak (halting flows up to 600,000 b/d)

The US dollar drifted lower through the session with USDCAD testing support at 1.3560 before finding some buyers. CAD being helped along by a 50bp Hike from the Bank of Canada on Wednesday.

Bitcoin surged higher from the low of its recent range of 16500 – 17500, on the way to testing the top end which will be a critical level to see if the push higher in cryptos has any legs after recent controversies.

Todays economic calendar is fairly light again with CPI figures out of China expected to show a slight slowdown in inflation, out of the US we have consumer confidence, which may play into the recession them, and PPI figures.