Equities pause after SP500 ends at record - 30.4.2021

Top daily news

Global equities are mostly down currently after SP 500 finished at a fresh record on Thursday. Facebook shares rallied 7.3% after reporting nearly doubled quarterly earnings, Amazon shares gained 2.4% in after-hours trade on earnings beat on Thursday outperforming market.

Forex news

Currency Pair Change
EUR USD -0.11%
GBP USD +0.15%
USD JPY -0.05%
AUD USD +0.03%

The Dollar strengthening is intact currently . The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, added 0.02% Thursday as US Labor Department reported 553 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 566 thousand the previous week.

EUR/USD reversed its climbing Thursday while GBP/USD extended gains as German consumer price inflation grew to 2.1% in April, exceeding the European Central Bank’s target of “close to but below 2%” for the second consecutive month. Euro is lower against the Dollar currently while Pound is still on the rise. AUD/USD reversed its climbing while USD/JPY reversed sliding with both yen and Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently.

Stock Market news

Indices Change
Dow Jones Index -0.06%
Nikkei Index -0.28%
Hang Seng Index -1.23%
Australian Stock Index -0.15%

Futures on three main US stock indexes are down currently ahead of Bureau of Economic Analysis Personal Consumption Expenditures and personal income reports at 14:30 CET today after a bullish session yesterday on positive data. US economy grew 6.4% in the first quarter while initial jobless claims for the week ending April 24 fell 13,000. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded similar daily gains int the range of 0.2% to 0.7%.

European stock indexes are mixed today after closing lower Thursday with bank shares leading gains while autos led losses. Asian indexes are mostly down today with Hang Seng leading losses as China’s factory activity fell more than expected in April.

Commodity Market news

Commodities Change
Brent Crude Oil -0.23%
WTI Crude -0.53%

Brent is edging lower today. Oil prices ended at six-week highs yesterday against the backdrop of strong economic data. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures tacked 1.8% but is lower currently. June Brent crude rose 1.9% to $68.56 a barrel on Thursday.

Gold Market News

Metals Change
Gold -0.2%

Gold prices are extending losses today . June gold lost 0.3% settling at $1,768.30 an ounce on Thursday – lower for a third straight session.

https://www.ifcmarkets.com/en/market-overview/market-overview-30-04-2021

2 Likes

Do you think the strength of the dollar will continue given the potentially unfelt impacts of COVID don’t seem to have truly come in to play yet?
Primarily thinking about the fact 20% of all USD in existence was minted in 2020.

Hi, it is very interesting question – the dollar index daily chart tells the dollar is in downtrend since April. Very true the Treasury issuing of dollar is a defining factor for dollar strength/weakness. The jitters of dollar index in response to the Treasury yields rise points to importance of yield expectations for dollar strength – so the Treasury yields is what need to be predicted to predict the dollar strength/weakness.