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...
At the end of last week, Brent and WTI crude hit highs last seen around two months ago. Earlier in the week, both contracts broke above resistance levels of $80 and $75 respectively. These gains came after news of two attacks by Ukraine on Russian energy infrastructure. The first target was the Russian Ust-Luga oil terminal and the second was a Russian oil...
There’s a bit of life coming back into precious metals with both gold and silver firmer in early trade on Thursday. The weaker dollar is providing a bit of a catalyst for the upside move, although it’s worth noting how the Dollar Index bounced sharply yesterday afternoon, and it remains in consolidation-mode rather than indicating the start of a turn lower. Silver...
Oil prices were modestly lower this morning, and continued to pull back from the highs hit on Monday. Crude continues to trade within a relatively narrow range, mainly between $70 and $75 for front-month WTI (the USO ETF as above), and has yet to find a catalyst to help it break out significantly in either direction. Prices did gap higher this afternoon following...
The three major US stock indices eked out modest gains yesterday to mark fresh record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended above 38,000 for the first time ever. But the best performance came from the Russell 2000 which closed up 2.0%. This is the US’s ‘mid cap’ index. It is a broad-based look at smaller US companies covering a wide range of businesses...
Crude was little-changed in this morning’s trade. Oil prices continue to hold within a relatively tight range which has established itself since the beginning of this year. The front-month WTI contract has failed to break convincingly above $75 per barrel, or below $70, while front-month Brent has mainly held between $80 and $75 per barrel. Chart-wise, there’s a...
US stock indices are building on yesterday’s tech-driven gains today. Last night, the NASDAQ 100 closed up 1.4% helped by a 3.3% jump in Apple’s stock price, following an upgrade from Bank of America (BoA). Apple has struggled recently after it hit a record high just a tad below $200 in mid-December. It fell close to 10% over the next three weeks, so this vote of...
There’s a widely held belief that gold is inversely correlated to the US dollar. The thinking goes that the stronger the dollar, the more expensive it is for non-dollar holders to buy dollar-denominated commodities such as gold. In addition, if US interest rates/bond yields are rising relative to other countries (currencies) the dollar will also go up as it...
US Stock indices are all weaker today compounding yesterday’s losses. Investors continue to cut back their long side exposure as they reassess the possible timing of rate cuts through 2024. The Federal Reserve has repeatedly warned market participants to temper their expectations for looser monetary policy, warning that inflation may not yet be beaten and citing...
Gold and silver have come under a renewed round of selling pressure today, principally on the back of dollar strength. There’s been a sell-off on bonds following yesterday’s Martin Luther King holiday with the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note back above 4.0%. Rising yields imply that the market feels that rates could stay higher for longer and this increases...
Many US exchanges are closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day. This means that there’s no trade in individual stocks, although futures markets are open, but closing early. Consequently, we can expect trading volumes to be low and liquidity light which sometimes results in jumpy price moves. We had a mixed close on Friday with the Dow lower thanks to...
Gold and silver have been under constant selling pressure since the end of last year. Yesterday, gold fell to its lowest level since mid-December, and came close to testing the upper end of support around $2,010. Silver fell below $22.50 to hit its lowest level since mid-November. These sell-offs have coincided with a counter-trend rally in the dollar. Both metals...
Ahead of the CPI update for December, US stock indices inched higher, building on Wednesday’s gains. The S&P 500 was testing resistance around the 4,800 area which is within spitting distance of its record intra-day high of 4,818, hit at the beginning of January 2022. If it can top this level, then it will join the Dow and the NASDAQ 100 in making fresh record...
With little in the way of economic data, and ahead of key inflation numbers and the start of the fourth quarter earnings season, the path of least resistance for US stock indices appears to be ‘up’. While the US majors ended yesterday’s session with modest losses, they certainly closed well off their lows. Given the sharp rally on Monday, it feels as if the bears...
