US stock indices continued their fightback yesterday. All the majors ended in positive territory with the strongest gains posted by the mid-cap Russell 2000, followed by the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100. Stock index futures rallied further overnight but have since pulled back from their highs. Tesla reported after last night’s close. The stock soared 15% despite missing...
Brent and WTI were both lower this morning, giving back much of yesterday’s gains. Prices have recovered a touch this afternoon, yet both contracts appear to be consolidating again, following last week’s sell-off which itself followed a lengthy period of sideways movement. But whereas the latter occurred around significant resistance areas of $85 per barrel for...
Gold and silver were sharply lower first thing this morning, and they extended their losses during the afternoon. It may sound like a bit of a cop-out in terms of an explanation, but both metals were well overdue a significant pull-back. Gold in particular, has rallied relentlessly since mid-February with little in the way of a pause. Now traders face the same...
Overnight, crude oil surged higher as news broke of explosions around an airfield in Isfahan in Iran. Israel is widely considered responsible, but has yet to comment. The limited strike is thought to be the Israeli response to Iran’s direct attack on the country last weekend. Iran has played down news of the strike, and it currently feels as if this won’t be the...
US stock index futures were firmer in early trade this morning. It remains to be seen if history repeats the market action from Wednesday and Monday, when early gains evaporated as the sessions progressed. Yesterday’s price action saw all the US majors rally early on, before reversing sharply later in the day. Tech stocks were hardest hit. NVIDIA ended the day...
Crude oil came under early selling pressure yesterday morning, but managed to make back some of its losses as the session progressed. Despite this, crude ended down on the day, and has fallen again today. Chart-wise, one interpretation is that both WTI and Brent continue to consolidate just below April’s multi-month highs. Yet the downside pressure has picked up...
US stock index futures had a positive start yesterday morning. But they fell back sharply soon after the main exchanges opened. Much of the blame has been levelled at Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, and on the fears of reprisals from the latter escalating hostilities further. But investors have had a growing sense of unease since the beginning of April....
Friday saw some bonkers moves in precious metals. Gold jumped over $60 at one stage to top $2,430 and make a fresh record high. It subsequently reversed sharply, closing lower for the day at $2,345. It was a similar story for silver which had a high-low range of just under $200, or around 6.5%. Much of the rally was driven by safe haven demand ahead of the...
As mentioned above, one of the markets that has reacted most positively to the reassessment of expectations over US Federal Reserve’s probable rate cut path this year is the US dollar. Following Wednesday’s hotter-than-expected US CPI numbers, the Dollar Index has rallied over 1.7% in a straight line. It is currently trading at its highest level in five months....
US stock indices fell sharply yesterday following yet another hotter-than-expected inflation reading. Headline CPI for March jumped to 3.5% year-on-year, up from the 3.4% expected, and well above the 3.2% recorded in February. The latest reading is the highest since September’s 3.7%, and it has certainly rattled financial markets. Stock index futures sold off...
Headline CPI for March jumps to 3.5% year-on-year, up from the 3.4% expected, and well above the 3.2% recorded in February. The latest reading is the highest since September’s 3.7%, and it has certainly rattled financial markets. Stock index futures sold off sharply, as did precious metals, while the US dollar soared. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note...
Markets feel as if they’re on hold now ahead of tomorrow’s US CPI update. This has gained additional significance following comments from Federal Reserve members last week. Some have said that the recent stalling of the decline in inflation, together with robust economic data releases, means that it’s far too early to consider cutting rates. That was the view...
On Friday, all the major US stock indices ended higher, making back some of their losses from earlier in the week. But overall, US equities had a bad run with the S&P 500 posting its biggest percentage weekly loss so far this year. The triggers for the sell-off, which saw the Dow, S&P and NASDAQ 100 end down 2.3%, 1.0% and 0.8% respectively, were statements from...
Last Wednesday, gold closed above $2,300 for the first time ever. It then pulled back a touch, and weakened further following Friday’s strong payroll numbers, before surging to fresh highs. Gold has been on quite a tear over the last six months. Back in early October, it came within a few dollars of breaking below $1,800 per ounce. Since then, it has rallied...
On Monday the Dollar Index hit its highest level since mid-November, driven by a jump in yields on US Treasury bonds. But the dollar has fallen quite sharply since then. However, it’s the Japanese yen that remains the main focus in FX. The USDJPY continues to consolidate near multi-decade highs, just below 152.00. We have heard several warnings from senior...
Crude oil continues to push higher. Front-month WTI is currently trading well above $85 per barrel, which is its highest level since the end of October last year. The rally began three weeks ago, after crude punched through resistance at $80, a level that had held it back since November. It briefly tested $80 as support. That held quite comfortably, setting up...
Gold has really sprung into life over the last six weeks. In mid-February it was trading below $2,000 per ounce. Now it is over $2,250, registering a gain to date of 14%. Bear in mind, these gains have come even as the dollar is effectively unchanged over the same time period. And perhaps even more impressively, the Dollar Index has added 2.6% over the last three...
US stock index futures were a touch weaker this morning. But this follows a particularly strong session yesterday which saw the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 close up 1.2%, 0.9% and 0.5% respectively. But the stand-out performance came from the Russell 2000, the US’s broad-based, domestically-focused mid-cap stock index. It ended the session over 2% higher,...
