Stock markets in Japan and China are closed for holidays today and tomorrow, but the rest of Asia breathed a sigh of relief after the US House also approved measures already approved by the Senate to avoid the 'fiscal cliff'. To a certain extent, these rules sweep the problems under the carpet, in the sense that they leave the fate of the fight against the deficit uncertain, they postpone spending cuts for two months and do not solve the problem of the public debt limit, a limit that must be renewed ( the ceiling was already reached on 31 December, but with various accounting tricks there are still two months of time).
It is important, however, that a bipartisan majority in favor of the compromise has been formed in the House: it augurs well for the other compromises that will have to be followed.
The euro strengthened to 1,327 and the yen continued to weaken, passing 87 against the dollar. Oil strengthened (to 92,7 $/b, WTI) as the deal bodes well for the confidence and therefore for the spending propensities of real economy players.
