The S&P Global Services PMI in the United States was recorded at 52.5 in December, slightly down from the previous figure of 52.9. This indicates a minor slowdown in the growth of the service sector compared to the last month.<\/p>\n
In the foreign exchange market, the EUR\/USD pair has fallen below 1.1700, nearing its weekly low at 1.1660, supported by a stronger US Dollar. Meanwhile, GBP\/USD is trading just below 1.3500 after retreating from a recent three-month-high.<\/p>\n
Gold maintains modest gains above $4,450, despite being capped by a stronger US Dollar, as geopolitical tensions persist. Bitcoin has retracted towards $93,000 after reaching a high of $94,789, while Ethereum and Ripple show potential profit-taking.<\/p>\n
Market participants are closely monitoring developments in Venezuela due to potential implications for market stability. Cardano sees potential for a 20% breakout as it rises above the 50-day EMA resistance, reflecting a positive outlook within the crypto market amid a risk-on sentiment.<\/p>\n
The latest Services PMI data, showing a slight dip to 52.5 from 52.9 in December 2025, signals that while the US economy is still expanding, the pace of growth is gently easing. This suggests we should temper our outright bullishness on the market. The momentum that carried us through the end of last year may be starting to face some headwinds.<\/p>\n
This cooling service sector data contrasts with the strong labor market, which added over 215,000 jobs in last week’s employment report. This creates a mixed picture for the Federal Reserve. We see a robust job market but a potentially peaking services sector, making the path for interest rates in the coming months less certain.<\/p>\n
With the 10-year Treasury yield holding firm around 4.1%, the cost of money remains high, supporting the US Dollar strength we saw for much of 2025. Given that the latest CPI data shows core inflation is still hovering near 3.2%, we do not expect the Fed to signal imminent rate cuts. This environment suggests caution is warranted, as easy money is not on the immediate horizon.<\/p>\n
Looking back, we saw tremendous rallies in 2025, with gold nearly touching $4,500 and Bitcoin briefly trading above $94,000. After such significant gains, the current economic uncertainty makes these assets vulnerable to profit-taking. We should be prepared for consolidation or a pullback from those historic highs.<\/p>\n
In the coming weeks, we should consider buying protective puts on broad market indices like the S&P 500 to hedge against a potential downturn. For those holding large equity positions, selling out-of-the-money call options could be a prudent way to generate income in what may become a more range-bound market. This strategy allows us to capitalize on elevated volatility while defining our risk.<\/p>\n
For currency traders, the resilient dollar theme remains in play, especially against currencies with weaker economic outlooks like the Euro, which struggled below the 1.1700 level last year. In the crypto space, the cooling trend may continue, suggesting that strategies based on volatility, such as strangles on Bitcoin options, might be more effective than betting on a clear directional move. We are watching for signs of either a breakdown in support or a fresh catalyst for another leg up.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US Services PMI dips slightly; dollar strengthens, weighing on forex and gold; crypto shows mixed movements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":16993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}