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...
Gold was a tad firmer this morning while silver was effectively unchanged. This is despite a rally in the US dollar which took back a chunk of yesterday’s losses. The dollar appears to have found a floor and has rallied sharply since Christmas. This is something of a turnaround given that the Dollar Index lost 6% between early October and the end of December. The...
Oil prices dropped sharply this morning, and prices dropped further in the afternoon. As we approached the European close, the front-month WTI contract was down around 4% currently. At the end of last week, Reuters reported that OPEC production rose in December, cancelling out existing output cuts chiefly from Saudi Arabia and Russia. The news came as additional...
US stock indices were drifting lower in early trade today, adding to losses from yesterday. They took another lurch lower following the release of the latest Non-Farm Payroll update.
December payrolls came in at 216,000 well above the 170,000 consensus expectation. In addition, Average Hourly Earnings also came in above forecast. This raised concerns that the...
Gold was steadier in early trade this morning following yesterday’s sharp sell-off. This marked the fourth consecutive negative session for gold. This has helped to dampen the bullish sentiment which had built steadily over the last quarter of 2023. Despite this, gold continues to trade above the key area of support between $2,000 and $2,010. If it can manage to...
A batch of tech stocks got hammered yesterday sending the NASDAQ 100 down 1.6% on the first trading day of 2024. Some of the brightest names responsible for pushing the market higher last year hit a brick wall. Apple lost close to 4% on a Barclays downgrade, while AMD fell 6% and Nvidia ended the session 2.7% lower. Intel also came under selling pressure and was...
In the first two weeks of December, gold had a high-low swing of 8%. Having started the month with an extraordinary rally which took it to a fresh all-time high just below $2,150, it subsequently slumped back below $1,980. Since then it has managed to rally steadily, taking it above the key $2,000/2,020 area quite comfortably. Like most risk assets, gold got a...
Last Wednesday, front-month WTI briefly dipped below $68 to hit its lowest level since June this year. This meant that crude had slipped deeper into a band of support marked by $67.50 at the low end. This has held ever since, and crude has managed to rally off here, although not in the spectacular fashion that we saw in equities, precious metals and bonds...
We have witnessed/experienced an outstanding rally since the end of October which has seen the major US stock indices post a seven-week winning streak. This is extending into the final trading week before Christmas, which means we could also see a “Santa Rally” if the rally continues into the first week of 2025.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now trading at...
Ahead of last night’s announcement from the Fed, front-month WTI briefly dipped below $68 to hit its lowest level since June this year. This also saw crude slip deeper into a band of support marked by a lower level around $67.50. This continues to hold, and yesterday we saw a sharp bounce from here. All dollar-denominated commodities got a lift from the sell-off...
Gold and silver sold off sharply on Friday afternoon following the release of US jobs data. As noted above, Non-Farm Payrolls came in above forecasts, while the Unemployment Rate dropped back unexpectedly, and Average Hourly Earnings were stronger than predicted. Overall, this was enough to temper investor sentiment towards rate cuts next year, as the US economy...
What a week it’s been for gold and silver. Around two weeks ago, gold finally burst above a band of resistance between $2,000 and $2,010. It came back and tested that upper level on Tuesday, before bouncing. But this level was more severely tested on Friday afternoon, and we’re now seeing a break under $2,000. Gold and silver plunged in the aftermath of...
The sell-off in crude oil continued on Wednesday with front-month WTI breaking below $70 to hit its lowest level in over five months. That took the losses from the September high to 26% - pushing even further into unofficial ‘correction’ territory. The losses came even after US inventory data showed a bigger-than-expected drawdown which should have offered some...
Gold, and silver, have been on a stomach-churning rollercoaster ride since they broke above significant resistance levels around two weeks ago. For gold, this was the area between $2,000 and $2,010 which seemed to be an insurmountable barrier for the bulls. But finally the buyers built up enough strength to batter through here. Gold went on to make a record...
Crude prices have steadied this morning with front-month WTI managing to hold above initial support around $73. Oil has fallen steadily since last Thursday afternoon when it was closing in on $80 per barrel. The catalyst for the move lower was the delayed OPEC+ production cut announcement which underwhelmed market participants. The group plans an overall reduction...
There was an extraordinary overnight move in precious metals which saw both gold and silver soar. From Friday’s close to the overnight high, silver added 1.7% which was impressive enough. But gold rallied 3.5% between the same two points before both metals gave back all these gains and fell into negative territory for the day. There are several factors which can...
Thursday saw an interesting end-of-month trading session with the old school Dow closing 1.5% higher, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 down 0.2%. We’re seeing a similar situation unfold today with the Dow adding to yesterday’s gains, and the NASDAQ losing more ground. The Dow is now trading at levels last reached in January 2022, easily surpassing the highs hit in...
