US stock index futures were all modestly higher in early trade, but began to turn lower as the session progressed. Yesterday saw another mixed session yesterday which saw gains for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, and small losses for the Dow and Russell 2000. This is entirely consistent with the sharp recovery in NVIDIA, a constituent of both the NASDAQ and S&P....
In early trade this morning, gold and silver continued to take tentative steps upward following Friday’s nasty sell-off. Last week’s move really pulled the rug from under the bulls. They had been slowly rebuilding their confidence after an even nastier sell-off on 7th June. But the steady grind higher which followed the first slump evaporated in a single session....
It’s been a relatively quiet start to the week with US stock indices little-changed in early trade. There was a slight positive bias across most of the majors, although the tech-heavy NASDAQ was showing signs of weakness. Market darling NVIDIA was down again, with further evidence of additional profit-taking. Last Thursday the chip maker at the vanguard of...
Brent and WTI crude were little-changed this morning. Both contracts are now trading up at levels last seen at the end of April. This contrasts with where oil prices were just over a fortnight ago when both Brent and WTI were trading at four month lows, following the OPEC/OPEC+ meetings. Since then, Brent and WTI have added 10.6% and 11.6% respectively. Yesterday,...
US stock index futures were all pushing higher this morning following yesterday’s Juneteenth holiday. Today’s move took the NASDAQ 100 and S&P 500 to fresh all-time highs, while the Dow and the mid-cap domestically focused Russell 2000 remain somewhat adrift of their own best levels. Looking at individual equities, all the ‘Magnificent Seven’ are firmer in early...
Gold was lower again overnight following yesterday’s negative session. Despite this, gold is still managing to hold above $2,300 although it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see a retest of this level. The daily MACD has fallen below zero which would suggest build in downside momentum. But it appears to be flattening out. It is also back to levels last seen in...
Crude oil spent the latter half of last week moving sideways. There was relatively little movement this morning as well, as markets continued to consolidate following the sharp rally which took place over the last couple of weeks. At the beginning of this month, front-month Brent and WTI hit their lowest levels since early February. Since then, both have rallied...
Gold and silver were trading in positive territory for most of this morning, but prices were constrained within tight price ranges. Most traders are sitting on their hands ahead of today’s key US inflation update and the Fed’s rate decision. Yesterday saw gold end higher while silver was lower, which was a fair summation of what has been happening since Friday’s...
US stock index futures came under selling pressure this morning. This followed yesterday’s lacklustre session which saw modest gains for all the majors. Equity markets appear to be consolidating ahead of tomorrow’s big announcements, with both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 holding close to all-time highs. So much now hinges on where the CPI comes in. The consensus...
Precious metals were taking a bashing even before the release of Friday’s better-than-expected Non-Farm Payroll report. While other markets traded in narrow ranges ahead of the data, gold and silver sold off sharply. They plunged further after the numbers were released, as higher payrolls and an unexpected uptick in Average Hourly Earnings saw the US dollar and...
This year may have seen some long-overdue positivity to precious metals, but the last three weeks have not been kind to the bulls. Today’s slump looks like it has done huge damage to many leveraged buyers, forcing them out of long-held positions. Sentiment has taken a real bashing, to gold holders certainly, but even more so for silver bulls, many who must have...
Crude finally found some support yesterday, bringing to an end a five-session run of back-to-back losses. Just over a week ago, front-month WTI was closing in on $80.50, trading at its highest level since the beginning of May, and appearing to break out of a month-long trading range. But it then reversed sharply, and went on to fall 10% over the following week....
Yesterday saw another swingy session for US stock indices. All the majors began the day on the backfoot, but subsequently recovered their poise to end near their highs. They were all a touch firmer this morning, with the S&P 500 back above 5,300 in early trade. That places the index within 50 points, or 1%, of its record intra-day high from a fortnight ago. Could...
Gold and silver are both feeling the heat today, as sellers have piled in to drive prices lower. The move has seen gold give back most of yesterday’s gains, although it continues to trade north of $2,300. It appears to be finding support at current levels ($2,320-$2,330), but should it break below here, the area around $2,300 also acted as support earlier this...
Crude prices are softer again this morning, with the market continuing with the weakness we saw in the latter half of last week. Yesterday, meetings between OPEC and OPEC+ members concluded much as expected, with the groups agreeing to extend their existing production cuts into next year. The extended output cuts include those voluntary ones agreed by Saudi Arabia...
US stock indices were drifting lower ahead of Friday’s key Core PCE inflation update. On Thursday, the mid-cap domestically focused Russell 2000 had bucked a negative trend across the major indices. This was another indication that investors are shifting some money out of many of the growth stocks that have led this year’s rally, and into value stocks which look...
Both Brent and WTI continue to frustrate investors. Last week saw both contracts break below significant support in a move which suggested further weakness to come. But prices reversed sharply and rallied back above resistance yesterday, signalling the likelihood of a breakout through the top of a range which has been building since the beginning of this month....
Gold was lower first thing this morning, and had given back most of its gains from Monday and Tuesday. It appeared to have found decent support this week following last week’s aggressive sell-off which saw the metal slump from a record high of $2,450 last Monday to $2,325 by Friday morning. But it still remains some way below $2,400, and even further away from the...
