Yesterday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI), showed numbers going in the wrong direction. The headline year-on-year CPI rose 3.2%. This was higher than expected, and above the +3.1% reading from January. Previously, January’s numbers had disappointed, coming in above expectations although still showing an overall decline. That had caused a serious market disruption...
Gold was a touch lower this morning, while the US dollar and Treasury yields were little-changed as investors sat on their hands ahead of the latest US CPI update. Gold was on course to break its run of nine days of back-to-back gains. A look at the chart showed no real pullback since this rally began in mid-February, and then really took off at the beginning of...
Crude oil sold off sharply on Friday and is lower in early trade today. Once again, front-month WTI is constrained to the upside by some very obvious and effective resistance around $80 per barrel. This has held firm since crude broke below here in early November last year. However, recent attempts have been accompanied by some positive upside momentum. Yet while...
It’s halfway through Friday’s trading session for US stocks, and the major indices have given up earlier gains. Earlier this morning both the NASDAQ 100 and the S&P 500 hit fresh record intra-day highs, helped along by NVIDIA. Having jumped close to 7% yesterday, it added another 3% in after-hours trade this morning. Investors continue to close their eyes and pay...
Crude oil spent all of Wednesday morning rallying steadily, in a move which saw front-month WTI launch another attempt to break above resistance at $80 per barrel. Once again, it was rejected and has gone on to lose more ground this morning. The final leg of yesterday’s upside push came after the latest weekly update from the Energy Information Administration...
Gold bulls have had a tremendous few days after months of frustration. Gold is up just under 5% since this time last week, and is currently closing in on its all-time record high hit back in early December. This was when gold suddenly surged in a low volume, illiquid, post-weekend Asian Pacific session to hit a record high just under $2,150. It subsequently...
Both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 closed at fresh record highs on Friday. The Dow ended a tad lower, pulled back by a fall in UnitedHealth which is its major constituent by weighting. Meanwhile, the broad-based, domestically-focused mid-cap index, the Russell 2000, tacked on over 1%, but remains around 15% adrift of its own record highs from back in November 2021....
Just over two weeks ago, gold fell sharply and broke below $2,000 to hit its lowest level in two months. It bounced back quickly, and topped $2,040 per ounce last Friday. It then spent this week going nowhere. Until today. After a fairly shabby start this morning, gold suddenly perked up, and was soon testing levels around $2,050 which acted as resistance in both...
Yesterday crude oil staged another attempt at an upside breakout. So far in February we’ve seen front-month WTI stall when it has attempted to break above the $78.30-$78.80 area. But it managed to cut above here yesterday, although it ultimately failed to close in on $80. Once again, it ran out of upside momentum as it pushed up into the $79.20-$79.70 band. This...
There was a mixed close across US stock indices yesterday, as equities continued to consolidate. This morning brought more of a pullback particularly in tech and smaller stocks. NVIDIA was down over 1% overnight and has now lost about 3% from its record close last Thursday. Despite this, there still hasn’t been any hint of a significant pullback in the current...
Gold is a touch firmer this morning, making back yesterday’s losses. It continues to consolidate in a relatively narrow range with a modest upside bias. This has seen it recover from a sharp sell-off two weeks ago when it slumped below $2,000 for the first time since mid-December. Over the last ten weeks, gold has spent most of its time between $2,000 and $2,100....
For most of last week, crude appeared to be consolidating below a prior area of resistance. The question seemed to be when oil prices would build up enough momentum to achieve escape velocity and break above the key levels of $80 and $85 for front-month WTI and Brent respectively. But this bullish scenario fell apart on Friday when oil prices fell sharply. They...
There was a surge in bullish sentiment following the release of NVIDIA’s stunning results. The rally across stocks was broad-based, making it difficult to find anything that failed to post hefty gains yesterday. Well I’ve found one. Newmont Mining Corp, the world’s biggest gold miner, didn’t just fail to rally. It absolutely tanked, ending yesterday’s session down...
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...
