European Closing Thoughts: We Are Thankful to All of You

European stock markets ended a choppy session higher as ThanksGiving holiday is drying up volume.

The Stoxx50 rose 0.40% to 2,519.68, the German Dax inched higher 0.16% to 7,184.71; in Southern Europe the Spanish Ibex rose 0.34% to 7,805.40 while the Italian Ftsemib led gainers rising 0.82% to 15,394.62.

Although confidence among US consumers rose less than anticipated in November, indicating that the impending fiscal tightening may be starting to damp Americans' moods,  US  benchmarks were heading north with the DJIA up 0.35% to 12,832.70, S&P500 up 0.12% to 1,389.48 and Nasdaq up 0.26% to 2,924.20.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment was little changed at 82.7, a five-year high, from the prior month's 82.6. The gauge was projected to rise to 84.5, according to the median forecast of 65 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The preliminary reading was 84.9.

Support to the equity market came from Egypt later in the session as Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr said a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has been reached and will take effect at 9 p.m. Cairo time, in a move hailed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as critical for the region.

As a reaction Oil future for January delivery erased early gains to trade to 86.87$ a barrel or 0.09% lower, Oil prices had dropped nearly 3% in the previous session as hopes for a Gaza Strip cease-fire relieved some of the concerns over supply risks in the Middle East.

Talking about commodities the yellow metal traded 0.33% higher to 1,729.30$ an ounce signalling that it's too early to call risk on trades.

Currency wise, the ICE dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, traded 0.04% higher to 80.93 or 0.04% higher. The euro fetched $1.2804, down from $1.2821 on Tuesday but bouncing off an intraday low of $1.2734 seen after a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers and IMF officials lasting nearly 12 hours broke up without an agreement on how to deal with Greece. The dollar meanwhile topped 82.42Y rising 0.90% as data released this morning (for those of view who have not red our Morning Meeting) showed Japan posted its largest trade deficit for October in more than 30 years as exports to China continued to slump amid territorial tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, underlining worries that Japan's economy is headed for a recession.

It has been a long and stressful day, but it was a constructive one, market wise again I personally was unable to buy the $FESX_F, sometimes the best trades are the one which make fell you uncomfortable.

Tomorrow the site will not be updated, we will participate to a conference here in Milan, but we would like to show our appreciation to all of the 10.000 people have been on our website, thank you very much.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Originally posted at www.77sigmatrading.com