Global stocks extend rally - 16.2.2021

Top daily news

Stocks are mostly advancing currently ahead of Wall Street opening following President’s Day holiday in US on Monday. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shares rallied 4.64%, SoftBank stocks closed up 4%.

Forex news

Currency Pair Change
EUR USD +0.12%
GBP USD +0.76%
USD JPY +0.15%
AUD USD +0.02%

The Dollar weakening is intact currently ahead of Federal Open Market Committee members Bowman’s and Daly’s speeches on economy at online events scheduled for 17:10 CET and 21:00 CET respectively. 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, slipped 0.1% Monday.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s accelerated climbing Monday as euro-zone’s bureau of statistics Eurostat reported euro-zone’s trade surplus rose to 27.5 billion euro in December from 25.1 billion in November, when a decline to 22.3 billion was forecast. Both euro and Pound are higher currently against the Dollar. Both AUD/USD and USD/JPY accelerated their climbing yesterday with the dynamics intact for both pairs currently.

Stock Market news

Indices Change
Dow Jones Index +0.15%
GB 100 Index +0.22%
Nikkei Index +1.28%
Hang Seng Index +1.78%
Australian Stock Index +0.19%

Futures on three main US stock indexes are higher currently ahead of US markets reopening following President’s Day holiday on Monday. The three US main stock benchmarks ended at all-time highs last week with modest weekly gains ranging from 1% to 1.7% led by technology shares, supported by strong corporate earnings.

European stock indexes are rising currently after ending higher yesterday led by media stocks. Asian indexes are mostly advancing today with Hong Kong’s Heng Seng Index leading the gains in its first trading session since Thursday following the Lunar New Year holidays. Mainland Chinese markets will remain closed for the holidays until Thursday.

Commodity Market news

Commodities Change
Brent Crude Oil +0.26%
WTI Crude +0.32%

Brent is extending gains today. Prices closed solidly higher Monday supported by supply concerns amid Middle East tensions and unusual cold snap in Texas. US production could be affected this week by unusually cold weather in Texas and Oklahoma as some refineries curtailed processing due to the cold which ranged from minus 6 to minus 22 Celsius. Data from the American Petroleum Institute on US crude inventory estimates will be issued one day later – Wednesday afternoon. Brent crude gained 1.4% to $63.30 a barrel on Monday.

Gold Market News

Metals Change
Gold -0.08%

Gold prices are extending losses today . Spot gold lost 0.3% to $1817.46 an ounce on Monday.
https://www.ifcmarkets.com/en/market-overview/market-overview-16-02-2021