Economic Updates

Economic Updates

Mixed earnings, weak data and hawkish Fed speak see US stocks finish lower

US stocks finished broadly lower in Thursday’s session in a choppy, low volume session as economic disappointed, Fed talking heads remained hawkish and a mixed batch of earnings. The biggest miss in earnings was Tesla (TSLA) who’s aggressive price cutting saw profit margins compress, seeing the auto giant down almost 10% on the session and t...

April 21, 2023
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US Stocks finish mixed in choppy session after Hot UK CPI spooks the markets

Major US indexes finished mixed in a choppy session for equities and FX after a hotter than expected re-ignited inflation fears and a global hawkish re-pricing of risk assets. Decent earnings and the big bounce back in Netflix encouraged the “Buy the Dip” crowd, pulling stocks up from their lows to see the major US indexes finish mostly flat...

April 20, 2023
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US stocks finish flat on hawkish Fed Speak and mixed data, Netflix has a wild ride on earnings

Tuesday’s session ultimately saw little change in major US indexes in an impressive round trip that initially saw a higher opening as strong Chinese GDP figures cheered investors, only to sell off on Hawkish Fed Speak and mixed earnings results before recovering somewhat to finish (mostly) modestly lower, with only the S&P 500 able to eke out...

April 19, 2023
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Key events in the week ahead – Activity data dominates

After last week’s Inflation themed calendar, we head into the new week where the main theme will be activity data with a raft of manufacturing and services PMI figures from the UK, Eurozone and the US. some of which will help determine what happens at the forthcoming round of central bank rate decisions in the coming weeks. USA With the mar...

April 17, 2023
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Tech leads US Stocks higher on soft PPI and employment figures, Gold surges towards all time high

A significantly softer than expected PPI print confirming Wednesdays CPI saw the green light for risk on in Thursday’s session and saw a broad rally in risk assets. All major US indexes rallied strongly with the Tech heavy NASDAQ outperforming while the S&P 500 closing at its highest level since February. The March producer price index...

April 14, 2023
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US Stocks give up gains on cool CPI as Fed minutes stoke recession fears

Major US stock indices slid in Wednesday’s session after a cooler than expected CPI figure gave them a boost only run out of steam and ultimately finish in the red after Fed minutes stoked recession fears. The Dow outperformed it’s peers, down around 38 points as investors continued to favour defensive stocks over more risk sensitive growth sto...

April 13, 2023
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US stocks choppy in a low volatility session ahead of pivotal CPI and FOMC minutes

US equities traded in tight ranges in a low volume session as traders remained cautious ahead of Wednesdays pivotal CPI figure out the US, followed by the release of FOMC minutes a few hours later. Major indices eventually finished mixed with the defensive Dow and recently battered Russell 2000 finishing in the green, whilst the S&P500 and N...

April 12, 2023
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US stocks reverse weak opening to end slightly higher in first reaction after NFP beat

US markets opened on Monday after a holiday break to the news of a resilient US labour market after a beat in the NFP figure released on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 236,000 for the month, above the 228k expected, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, where a hold of 3.6% was expected. This saw rate hike expectations from the FOMC at ...

April 11, 2023
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Tech Tanks, Defensives hold up the Dow as Weak Data Stokes Recession Fears

US markets continued to wobble in Wednesday’s session after another weak employment figure and a miss on Services PMI indicated the US economy might finally start to be slowing down after a year of aggressive hiking from the Federal Reserve. The Tech heavy and more risk sensitive Nasdaq led declines, closely followed by the Russell 2000 as reg...

April 6, 2023
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US stocks decline as weak JOLTS data and Dimon comments spook investors

US equities snapped a 4-day winning streak as the “bad news is good news” narrative for equities faltered in Tuesdays session. Before the cash session the JOLTS job openings figure was released and came in much lower than expected, this is a key gauge of US labour market tightness that the Fed has referenced throughout its aggressive interes...

April 5, 2023
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US stocks mixed in choppy session amid an OPEC+ surprise and weak manufacturing data

Markets on Monday opened to the news of a surprise OPEC+ Oil output cut seeing WTI oil gap open over 5% that along with weak manufacturing figures out of the US saw a whipsawing session in equities, the Dow did finish strongly though, up over 300 points, dramatically outperforming the Nasdaq by the most since October last year, the tech heavy index...

April 4, 2023
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The Week Ahead – RBA and RBNZ rate decisions , US employment

US Stocks finished Q1 with a bang as Wall st wrapped up a volatile, and event filled quarter with Federal Reserve rate tightening, a banking sector panic spurred on by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 7.03% and 16.77%, respectively, for the first quarter. It was the best quarter since 2020...

April 3, 2023
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US Stocks Rally on Economic Data and End of Quarter Flows Ahead of PCE Reading

US stocks rose again in Thursdays session on a mixture of “bad news is good news” and end of quarter flows as fund managers did some window dressing on their portfolios. The bad news was a rise in unemployment claims to 198k for the week, and a US GDP figure that came in below expectation at 2.6%. We also had a couple of Fed speakers that cause...

March 31, 2023
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US Markets Rise Ahead of GDP, Tech Outperforms, USD higher on JPY dip

US Stocks were firmer on Wednesday, with a reversal of yesterday’s session with Tech leading the charge higher the recent rise in bond yields lost some momentum , the Nasdaq 100 was up over 200 points and has now entered a technical bull market, rising 20% from its December low, while the S&P500 closed above its 50dma for the first time since...

March 30, 2023
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US Stocks lower in quiet US Session, Tech Underperforms on Higher Yields, Gold Finds Support

US stocks declined modestly in a fairly quiet session with most of the downside coming from Tech stocks whose future valuation become less attractive as bond yields rose, with the Nasdaq finishing down almost 0.5% while the Dow and S&P 500 were almost unchanged. The only real news out overnight was US consumer confidence which rose to 104 fr...

March 29, 2023
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