EM’s on the front foot

The rand is enjoying the last few trading sessions, and today has not been any different. After spending most of the day in a narrow range, the rand is looking to make a break below R16.90. The rand last saw a close below R16.90 back in August this year, with the stronger dollar keeping the local currency on the back foot since. Earlier today, our Trade Balance came out a negative R4.3bn against the positive R16.8bn expected, but little to damper the rand trading stronger.

Revised US GDP higher

The revised GDP print for Q3 showed that the US economy grew 2.9% quarter-on-quarter after the 2.6% figure reported initially. The print was, however, number by Private Employment data coming in lower than expected, which is generally a leading indicator for Non-Farm payrolls out this Friday. The focus will remain on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later tonight. The dollar has not moved much against the euro and the pound, with the greenback trading at 1.0380 and 1.2003, respectively.

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