Afternoon day trading plan up-date

– (US) Initial
Jobless Claims: 370K v 380Ke; Continuing Claims: 3.205M v 3.275Me


– Trading in the
European session and on US markets has been highly volatile and choppy. 

There
was some static in Italy as meddling by Berlusconi may have cost him his
parliamentary majority. Greece’s rating was downgraded, unsurprisingly. However
the very strong German Oct factory orders data showed that not all is lost in
Europe. 

The S&P500 and DJIA have rallied over the last 20 minutes, rising to
session highs around +0.1-0.2%, led by the Nasdaq, which is +0.5%.

– There has been little notable fiscal cliff rhetoric over recent hours,
although it is worth noting that Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) shot
down the Treasury’s proposal to use solve the debt ceiling issue.

– The BoE and ECB rate decisions both proceeded exactly as expected, with both
central banks keeping key rates unchanged. At the press conference, ECB
chief Draghi hinted towards more rate cuts noting that there was “wide
discussion” about whether to keep rates steady, including the concept of
negative interest rates. 

Draghi said that the ECB is “technically
prepared” for negative rates. ECB staff revised both inflation and growth
forecasts lower, adding to speculation that a rate cut might arrive early next
year. EUR/USD held above 1.3050 until Draghi’s negative rate talk, after
which the pair plunged as low as 1.2980.

***Looking Ahead***
Traders will be sitting on hands this afternoon ahead of tomorrow’s highly-anticipated Non-Farm Payroll Economic News, which will be the last glimpse at the jobs status before 2013.