European benchmarks consolidated on Friday following a mixed opening, while a similar trend has been registered by Asian stocks. Market participants chose to temper their investments for the last trading session of the week, following four days of the solid rally. Votes are still being counted in some of the key US swing states and President Trump is already challenging the results. While Democrat candidate Joe Biden is getting closer and closer to the White House, according to the latest results, Republicans managed to keep control of the Senate. This does not have a huge effect on markets as most investors anticipated a contested victory for any of the two candidates since October. The biggest market drivers remain concerns due to mounting risks to economies and their current recoveries brought by the powerful second wave of COVID-19, combined with the lack of further fiscal and monetary support. All eyes will be on macro data today with the highly awaited US Non-Farm Payroll for October due later.
European stocks have traded sideways so far, with gains in the banking sectors offsetting losses in tech shares. Technically speaking, the DAX-30 index managed to clear its strong resistance zone between12,235 pts and 12,350 pts which unlocks an extended bullish potential towards 12,700 pts on the very short-term basis.
