Category: News

General Market Comment

US indices closed lower on Tuesday, pressured by shares in the Technology Hardware & Equipment (-3.86%), Transportation (-3.32%) and Energy (-3.29%) sectors. On the economic data front, housing starts increased by 1.5% MoM to 1.228M units in October, in-line with estimates, from 1.21M in September. On the other hand, building permits declined by 0.6% MoM in October to 1.263M compared to 1.27M a month earlier. The S&P 500 (2,641.89) remains below its 20d moving average (2,718.20 – negative slope) and 50d moving average (2,804.04 – negative slope). read more

Commodity Closing – Europe/Oil-Gas Majors 20.11.18

NEW YORK – Oil prices tumbled about 7 percent on Tuesday, with U.S. crude plunging to its lowest level in more than a year, caught in a broader Wall Street selloff that was fed by rising concerns in markets about slowing global economic growth. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $3.90, or 6.8 percent, at $53.30 per barrel by 2:01 p.m. EST (1901 GMT). The contract fell as much as 7.7 percent earlier in the session to $52.77 a barrel, the lowest since October 2017. So far in today’s US session, more than 868,000 front-month WTI contracts had changed hands, exceeding the daily average. Brent crude futures fell $4.50, or 6.7 percent, to $62.29 a barrel. The international benchmark fell as much as 7.6 percent to $61.71, the lowest level since December 2017. read more

Today’s Economic Events

06:30 FR 3Q Unemployment Change (k) (QoQ) exp: NA prev: -48
06:30 FR 3Q Unemployment Rate exp: 8.8% prev: 8.7%
07:00 GE OCT Producer Price Index (MoM) exp: 0.3% prev: 0.5%
13:30 US OCT Bulding Permits (k) exp: 1266 prev: 1270
13:30 US OCT Housing Starts (k) exp: 1233 prev: 1201

General Market Comment

US indices closed lower on Monday as tech stocks were under pressure. Shares in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (-4.11%), Software & Services (-3.87%) and Retailing (-3.54%) sectors were in the red zone. On the economic data front, the NAHB housing market index decreased to 60 in November (estimated 67) from 68 in October. The S&P 500 (2,690.73) breaks below its 20d moving average (2,723.14 – negative slope) and stays below 50d moving average (2,808.96 – negative slope). read more

Commodity Closing – Europe/Oil-Gas Majors 19.11.18

NEW YORK – Oil futures fell about 1 percent on Monday amid global oversupply worries, but losses were muted as investors eyed potential sanctions on Iran from the European Union, a possible production cut from OPEC and slightly bullish storage drawdown in U.S. crude stocks. Meanwhile the agency KEMP reported Hedge fund managers have exited from all the bullish positions in crude oil and fuels they accumulated in the second half of 2017 as the bull market has unwound. read more

Today’s Economic Events

15:00 US NOV NAHB Housing Market exp: 67 prev: 68

General Market Comment

US indices closed mixed on Friday. Shares in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (-2.15%), Retailing (-1.1%) and Media (-0.83%) sectors closed in the red while shares in the Real Estate (+1.36%), Utilities (+1.31%) and Telecommunication Services (+1.27%) sectors gained a bit of strength. On the economic data front, industrial production improved by 0.1% MoM in October (estimated 0.2%) from an increase of 0.2% in September. In other news, capacity utilization slightly increased to 78.4% in October (forecasted 78.2%) compared to 78.5% a month earlier. The S&P 500 (2,736.27) remains above its 20d moving average (2,726.40 – negative slope) but stays below 50d moving average (2,812.69 – negative slope). read more

Commodity Closing – Europe/Oil-Gas Majors 16.11.18

NEW YORK  – Oil rose nearly 1 percent on Friday on expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies would agree to cut output next month. However, despite this prices were set to for a weekly drop on underlying concerns that the global market was oversupplied. Meanwhile according to KEMP, global oil markets are increasingly over-supplied with light distillates, such as gasoline, while there are not enough middle distillates, such as diesel, which has opened a big price differential between the two fuels. read more

Today’s Economic Events

07:00 GE OCT Wholesale Price Index (MoM) exp: NA prev: 0.4%
10:00 EC OCT Euro-Zone: CPI (MoM) exp: 0.2% prev: 0.2%
14:15 US OCT Industrial Capacity Utilization exp: 78.2% prev: 78.11%
14:15 US OCT Industrial Production (MoM) exp: 0.2% prev: 0.3%

General Market Comment

US indices closed higher on Thursday, lifted by shares in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (+3.21%), Technology Hardware & Equipment (+2.59%) and Software & Services (+2.12%) sectors. On the economic data front, the Empire manufacturing survey increased to 23.3 in November (estimated 20) from 21.1 in October. The Philadelphia Federal Business Outlook declined to 12.9 in November (forecasted 20) compared to 22.2 a month earlier. In other news, retail sales advanced by 0.8% MoM in October (estimated 0.5%) vs. a slight decline of 0.1% in the previous month. Import price index improved by 0.5% MoM in October (expected 0.1%) from an increase of 0.2% in September. Also, initial jobless claims reached 216k in week ended November 10th (forecasted 213k) compared to 214k a week earlier. Continuing claims increased to 1.676M in week ended November 3rd (estimated 1.625M) vs. 1.63M in the prior week. Finally, the Bloomberg consumer comfort index slightly decreased to 60.5 in week ended November 11th from 61.3 a week earlier. The S&P 500 (2,730.20) breaks above its 20d moving average (2,727.97 – negative slope) and 50d moving average (2,815.40 – negative slope). read more