Gold sinks 2.77% to $3,874.70; USD/JPY touches 160 and slips back

Gold fell 2.77% to $3,874.70 on our feed, below its 30 October close, as FXStreet said markets priced higher odds of a half-point Fed hike in December. USD/JPY touched 160.044 and closed at 159.834, and the dollar rose against all seven majors for a third session.

Gold gave back November's gains

• Gold fell 2.77% to $3,874.70 on our feed, after a low of $3,852.42 at 15:24 UTC. That was below its 30 October close of $3,875.18, so every gain since then was gone, including the 4.92% weekly rise our last weekly wrap recorded. FXStreet called the low a one-year low and tied the slide to bets on a 50-basis-point Fed hike in December.

• WTI went the other way: it dipped to around $84.75 in early European trade, then climbed back above $86, FXStreet said. Later, President Donald Trump wrote that the US did not need a deal with Iran, and investingLive said oil rose after Iran's state media reported strikes in Hormozgan province. After the close, FXStreet put WTI near $87.50 in early Asian trade.

Fed bets and the 160 line

• The dollar rose against all seven majors on our feed for a third session in a row, from 0.03% against the yen and the Canadian dollar to 0.57% against the Australian dollar. FXStreet said the dollar index hit a 19-month high of 103.08, and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack backed further hikes against persistent inflation, though in smaller, more frequent steps, Action Forex reported.

• USD/JPY touched 160.044 at 16:41 UTC, fell to 159.314 two minutes later and closed at 159.834, up 0.03%, its 13th close in a row above 157.50. After the close, FXStreet said 160.00, where Japan bought yen twice this year, had been reached for the first time since early September and did not hold. Japan's top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, called recent moves too rapid, FXStreet reported; none of the session's headlines reported an intervention.

The euro, the pound, the Aussie and the kiwi

• EUR/USD fell 0.31% to 1.10553, its second close below 1.1103, after a low of 1.10458 at 17:43 UTC; Action Forex said that break left its bias pointing to 1.0904. FXStreet said after the close that the euro was at its lowest in 18 months. All 71 economists in a Reuters poll expected an ECB hike in December, to a 2.75% deposit rate, FXStreet reported.

• GBP/USD fell 0.28% to 1.32364 and closed below 1.3271, the support in Action Forex's daily outlook. FXStreet said after the close that better UK growth had not stopped a third straight fall and that Thursday's low, 1.32212 on our feed, was the pair's lowest since 15 October.

• AUD/USD fell 0.57% to 0.68086, the dollar's biggest gain of the seven, after a low of 0.67978 at 15:21 UTC; FXStreet put the pair at its lowest since January. It was a second close below 0.6854, the line where the tell in our weekly wrap fired on Wednesday, and from 23:00 UTC that day the pair never traded back above it. It did not reach 0.6723, the target Action Forex set for a decisive break.

• NZD/USD fell 0.31% to 0.55458, less than a pip above Friday's close, so Monday's post-election rise was all but gone.

What the data showed

• GBP · September GDP: 0.2% on the month, against a 0.0% forecast.

• GBP · Preliminary third-quarter GDP: 0.7% on the quarter, as forecast. investingLive said the figures kept a December Bank of England hike on track; BBH said the pound's reaction was limited.

• USD · Initial jobless claims: 200,000, against a 194,000 forecast.

Market gauges and what's next

Our proprietary metrics at the close of the session:

• Readings: an MRS of 64, from 63, with its news component at its full 20 on both days. The CTS read 50, unchanged, with its carry backdrop at 64 out of 100; the FSI read 51, Neutral, from 52.

• Top of our strength table: the Australian dollar, a clear leader, first for 282 of the session's 1,436 minutes, 20% of them. It was also last for 16% of them and lost the most against the dollar: the session's swing currency.

• Bottom: no clear laggard. The dollar was first for only 123 minutes, seventh of eight, while rising against all seven; the table counts minutes in each place, not the session's net move.

Today: US producer prices are due at 13:30 UTC, forecast at 0.4% on the month and 0.3% for core. After the close, Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama warned of one-sided yen moves near 160 and said Japan would coordinate with the US Treasury, investingLive reported.