18.12.2020: USD consolidating losses (DJIA, USDX, USD/CAD, BTC/USD)

Futures on the US stock indices are trading higher amid optimism about fiscal stimulus. Today the US dollar is consolidating losses against major currencies. Bitcoin is extending strength.
Futures on the US benchmark stock indices are trading marginally higher as investors are anticipating that US lawmakers will pass a long-awaited stimulus bill.
Both the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq edged up 0.07%. The S&P 500 showed a 0.1% uptick.
Market participants are keeping close tabs on lingering talks in Congress on a relief package for the US ailing economy. Investors are encouraged by progress towards agreeing a stimulus package worth 900 billion dollars. Nevertheless, the bill has not been settled yet. The talks between Republicans and Democrats are still underway.
Yesterday, the US Labor Department released a weekly update on initial unemployment claims. The latest report showed that the number of lay-offs increased last week defying expectations for a lower number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits. This is fresh evidence that the US economic recovery is stalling and the labor market needs financial aid from the government.
In the morning, the US dollar rebounded against its rival currencies. The greenback is making a correctional climb after it slumped to the lowest level since April 2018 earlier this week. The US dollar index rose 0.15% to 89.97 against a basket of major currencies. The index had tumbled 1.3% over four trading days.
The reason behind such a slump is that investors overestimated the likelihood that the stimulus bill was around the corner.
The US dollar is gaining ground against its Canadian counterpart. Having rebounded 0.21%, the currency pair settled up at 1.27.
Today bitcoin jumped over 3%, hovering around the level of 23,000 dollars per token. According to CoinMarketCap, a crypto industry utility that computes an average bitcoin price scanning over 20 crypto exchanges, bitcoin appreciated 3.92% today.
At the moment of recording this video, the number one cryptocurrency was trading at near 22,876 dollars.
On Thursday night, bitcoin set two historic records. First, it surpassed the level of 21,000 dollars and later on the same day it spiked to the level above 22,000 dollars per token. Yesterday, the bitcoin price exceeded the level of 23,000 dollars, thus having conquered a new peak.
Since then, the most popular cryptocurrency has moderated its rally.  
The US government passed the last stimulus bill eight months ago. Painstaking talks on a new relief package are coming to a logical end. So, investors believe that Congress is on track to approve the bill in the near term. 900 billion dollars seems a realistic size for the new bill, though it is twice smaller than the previous package approved in March. Nevertheless, with the new bill, US lawmakers are going to allocate extra funds for jobless benefits, aid for self-employed and households as well as support for small businesses, including funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. Investors are pleased with such distribution of funds.

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