Haven assets in demand after day of heated rhetoric on North Korea and nukes

Haven assets in demand after day of heated rhetoric on North Korea and nukes

Not surprisingly haven assets such as gold and the Japanese yen are up today. So are volatility measures such as the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX.) Surprisingly, the rush to safety hasn’t been as strong as you might expect after a day when U.S.President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with fire and fury and that country responded by threatening to nuke Guam.

Pre-holiday move to safety starts a little early

With trading volumes already starting to slip–trading in Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks was running about 25% below its average for this time of day at noon today–traders and investors are locking in some gains and seeking safety for the week before Christmas. As of 1 p.m. New York time gold was up for the day and the dollar was down.

Currency traders long U.S. dollars figure there’s another 2% to 3% free money in this trade before the end of the year

Currency traders long U.S. dollars figure there’s another 2% to 3% free money in this trade before the end of the year

Yesterday the dollar rose another 1.2% against the euro to $1.0415, the highest since January 2003. And the US. currency climbed by another 1.4% against the yen. The Dollar Index added to its gain to hit a 15-year high.
Today the dollar has backed off a bit. Not surprising after the huge two-day run after Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting. But this does all raise the question of how much more there is left in the run.