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Market Wrap: Stocks, Bonds, Commodities
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 133 points (+0.40%) to 33,269, the S&P 500 climbed 28 points (+0.75%) to 3,852, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 52 points (+0.48%) to 10,914.
Minutes of the Federal Reserve's December monetary-policy meeting showed no surprise or new information about the central bank's latest rate-hike decision.
Regarding U.S. economic data, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 48.4 in December (vs 49.0 expected). The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of job openings declined to 10.458 million in November (vs 10.100 million expected).
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell a further 5.2 basis points to 3.687%.
Automobiles (+4.42%), semiconductors (+2.61%), and consumer services (+2.31%) sectors were the top performers.
Tesla (TSLA) rebounded 5.12%, General Motors (GM) rose 2.57%, Micron Technology (MU) traded 7.6% higher, and Meta Platforms (META) rose 2.11%.
Also, Bath & Body Works (BBWI) jumped 10.51%, and Salesforce.com (CRM) gained 3.57%.
Alibaba (BABA) jumped 12.98% after Jack Ma, the company's founder, was allowed by the Chinese government to raise funds for his financial unit Ant Group.
On the other hand, Microsoft (MSFT) fell 4.37% after the stock was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at UBS.
European stocks also closed higher. The DAX 40 rose 2.18%, the CAC 40 increased 2.30%, and the FTSE 100 was up 0.41%.
Oil prices dropped further as investors kept worrying about fuel demand amid a slowing global economy and surging Covid cases in China. U.S. WTI crude futures sank $3.80 (-4.94%) to $73.15 a barrel.
Gold price increased $15 to $1,855 an ounce.
Market Wrap: Forex
The U.S. dollar softened against other major currencies. The dollar index retreated to 104.24.
AUD/USD surged 113 pips (+1.68%) to 0.6840 after the Chinese government allowed coal imports from Australia, the first time since 2020.
EUR/USD gained 59 pips to 1.0607. France's data showed that the inflation rate slowed to 5.9% on year in December (vs +6.3% expected).
GBP/USD climbed 89 pips to 1.2057.
USD/JPY jumped 167 pips to 132.69.
USD/CHF fell 59 pips to 0.9301, and USD/CAD slumped 191 pips to 1.3480.
Bitcoin traded higher along with other risky assets, climbing to $16,800.
Morning Trading
In Asian trading hours, AUD/USD eased to 0.6812 from 0.6840 in the prior session. China's Caixin services purchasing managers index rebounded to 48.0 in December from 46.7 in November, above 44.5 expected.
Meanwhile, EUR/USD rose further to 1.0615 while GBP/USD slipped to 1.2050.
USD/JPY retreated to 132.00.
Gold was steady to $1,855.
Bitcoin held gains at $16,830.
Expected Today
Final readings of December S&P Global services purchasing managers index is expected at 50.0 for the U.K. and 44.4 for the U.S.
The eurozone's November producer prices index is estimated to be up 28.2% on year.
Germany's November trade surplus is estimated at 4.5 billion euros.
In the U.S., December ADP private jobs are expected to increase by 150,000, while weekly initial jobless claims are estimated at 230,000. Also, November trade deficit is anticipated at 72 billion dollars. | | |
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