Crude oil had fallen steadily since Tuesday morning. But it found some support and managed to rally for most of yesterday’s session. It has barely moved so far today, and a look at the chart puts this week’s moves into perspective. Despite some intra-day swings, crude prices continue to consolidate, albeit closer to significant resistance than significant support....
Investors are getting quite antsy ahead of the release of NVIDIA’s earnings after tonight’s close. The chipmaking giant has made extraordinary gains due to the excitement over its role in the future of generative AI. The stock price has almost quadrupled since January 2023 and last week the company briefly became the third largest US corporation as measured by...
There’s not much point in talking about yesterday’s moves in US stock index futures given the holiday-truncated session. But overnight there’s been a cooling in positive sentiment and all the major US indices are lower today. The S&P 500 has broken back below 5,000 for the first time since Wednesday, although it’s far too early to say if this is the start of a...
US stock indices closed lower on Friday, resulting in a negative week for the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P. The ‘small-cap’ domestically-focused Russell 2000 was the biggest loser, ending the session 1.4% lower. Despite this, it was the only stock index to have a positive week, gaining 1.1%. Investors had to deal with hotter-than-expected consumer and wholesale inflation,...
Yesterday saw gold push back above the significant $2,000 level. It was helped along by the weak retail sales number which weighed on the dollar, and caused a pull-back in bond yields. There were concerns that Tuesday’s break below support at $2,000 would trigger further selling which would knock the stuffing out of the gold bulls for months to come. But they will...
Crude oil fell sharply yesterday afternoon, and the sell-off continued this morning. The move brought an end to a nine-day rally which saw front-month WTI gain just under 10%. Crude had brushed aside Tuesday’s disappointing inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute along with the jump in CPI. But it was unable to ignore yesterday’s inventory update from...
Gold and silver plunged yesterday following the release of hotter-than-expected US inflation data. The news saw the dollar fly higher as the market’s forecast for the number of rate cuts this year was slashed, while the timing of the first was pushed out to June from May. Bear in mind that just a few weeks ago the market was convinced that the Fed’s first rate cut...
It was a mixed close for US stock indices last night with modest losses for the NASDAQ 100 and S&P 500, and a small gain for the Dow. It was the Russell 2000, the US ‘small cap’ index of domestically-focused companies which outperformed, closing 1.8% higher. Bear in mind that while the big three are trading at or near their all-time highs, the Russell is 17%...
Gold continues to trade sideways, although with a negative bias. Yet again, it is perilously close to significant support around $2,000 to $2,010, an area it last tested in mid-January. Once again, the US dollar is consolidating at higher levels. Last week we saw the Dollar Index break above resistance around 104.00. It was unable to hold its gains, and...
Oil prices rallied today adding to gains made since the beginning of the week. Front-month WTI is now up over 6.5% from its low on Monday while Brent is up 4%. Israel rejected Hamas’s latest ceasefire deal and has begun an offensive on the southern border city of Rafah. Despite this, talks are continuing. Both WTI and Brent are back above resistance at $75 and $80...
US stock indices rallied again yesterday. Tech led the gains with the NASDAQ 100 up just under 1%. The S&P 500 ended up 0.8% and is on the cusp of breaching the 5,000 level. But the broader market was unable to join in the fun as the Russell 2000, the US’s ‘small cap’ index of domestically-focused companies, ended the day a fraction lower. Investors are taking a...
Precious metals just can’t catch a break at the moment. The dollar goes up, gold and silver go down. The dollar goes down, so do gold and silver. Now that could be a signal that the recent negative correlation between dollar-denominated precious metals and the dollar itself, is breaking down. If so, then investors can get back to studying the individual charts of...
Yesterday, US stock indices sold off sharply soon after the open, but quickly recovered most of their losses ahead of the European close. Investors were spooked by a sharp jump in bond yields which saw the 10-year Treasury close at 4.16%, having been at 3.86% just a few days ago. Investors have been repricing everything since Wednesday’s Fed meeting and Friday’s...
Friday saw the release of blow-out Non-Farm Payroll data. Payrolls rose 353,000 in January, way above the 180,000 expected, while prior updates were also revised significantly higher. The strong jobs data provided more evidence of the robustness of the US economy, despite the Fed continuing to hold interest rates at their highest levels since 2001. The news made...
Oil prices have spent this week pulling back from the two-month highs hit on Sunday night. Yesterday saw a big move lower which took both front-month WTI and Brent back below significant technical levels of $75 and $80 respectively. These levels acted as resistance for the first three weeks of this year, forming the upper band of a range with support at $70 for...
Precious metals swung about yesterday in the aftermath of the Fed’s decision to leave rates unchanged, and following Fed Chair Powell’s hawkish press conference. Mr Powell made the Fed’s position abundantly clear, telling investors that their expectations over the timing and size of rate cuts this year were both too soon, and too much. But gold and particularly...
Oil prices continue to pull back from the two-month highs hit on Sunday night. Despite this, front-month WTI and Brent are still above prior resistance (now support) levels of $75 and $80 respectively. These levels marked the upper end of a trading range which had developed since the beginning of the year. But prices broke above here last week, helped by fears...
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Gold was firmer first thing on Tuesday, but had given up most of its early gains by midday. It was a similar story for silver which hit its highest level in two weeks this morning, but then proceeded to weaken steadily. Gold has been rangebound for the best part of a fortnight now, having spent yesterday’s session once again stuck between $2,010 and...
