【TOP1 Morning】Sterling soars and Crude oil rebounds. Risk aversion reduce.

Forex: The Brexit agreement will be reached, and the pound will rise sharply.

The pound expanded its gains against the U.S. dollar, rising to more than $1.35. The pound had already risen earlier in the session, as the French border blockade was lifted and it rose 0.9% late to $1.3482. The pound rose 0.8% against the euro to 0.9033 pounds.

The euro rose 0.2% to $1.2180 against the dollar. Euro touched at the beginning of the market for more than two and a half years the highest level.

On Wednesday, Britain and the European Union appeared to be about to reach a long-pending trade agreement. A reporter from the British "Daily Mail" said that the two sides have reached an agreement, and there is speculation that British Prime Minister Johnson will issue a statement on Wednesday night.

After the news came out, U.S. bond yields rose, following the rise in European and British bond yields.

The dollar index fell 0.1% to 90.39. The dollar index has fallen by more than 6% this year, and investors are betting that the Fed will maintain an ultra-loose monetary policy. Expectations of further depreciation of the U.S. dollar helped boost stock markets and emerging market currencies.

Gold: The price of gold rose by 1% after the dollar weakened.

Spot gold closed at 1872.74 US dollars per ounce, up 12.05 US dollars or 0.65%, the lowest intraday touched 1856.92 US dollars per ounce, and the intraday highest touched 1878.48 US dollars per ounce.

COMEX February gold futures closed up 0.4%, ending the three-day losing streak, closing at $1,878.10 per ounce.

Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said: "The slight weakening of the U.S. dollar pushes the price of gold higher." He added that progress is needed in the economic stimulus agreement and Brexit to further consolidate the reason for the bullish gold price.

Crude oil: Oil prices rose more than 2% on Wednesday.

Brent crude oil futures rose 1.12 US dollars to close at 51.20 US dollars a barrel, an increase of 2.2%; US crude oil futures rose 1.1 US dollars to close at 48.12 US dollars a barrel, an increase of 2.3%.

Boosted by the decline in US crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories, the decline in inventories boosted investors' hopes for a certain degree of recovery in fuel demand.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that as of the week of December 18, crude oil inventories fell by 562,000 barrels to 499.5 million barrels. Analysts in a Reuters survey expected a decrease of 3.2 million barrels.

EIA said gasoline inventories unexpectedly decreased by 1.1 million barrels to 237.8 million barrels. Stocks of distillate oil, including diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.3 million barrels to 148.9 million barrels, a drop more than expected.

US stocks: The three major stock indexes continue to develop individually.

The Dow closed up 114.30 points, an increase of 0.38%, to 30129.83 points; the S&P 500 index gave up most of the day’s gains in late trading, and only closed up 2.80 points, or 0.07%, to 3690.01 points; the Nasdaq index closed. It fell 36.80 points, or 0.29%, to 12,771.11 points, a record high.

As market concerns about the mutated new coronavirus from the UK have eased, travel-related stocks that have been sold rebounded. United Airlines (United Airlines) and Delta Airlines (Delta) rose more than 3%, Carnival (Carnival) and Norwegian Cruise Line (Norwegian Cruise Line) both rose 6%.