Weighed down by continued strife in Ukraine, including fighting around a large nuclear plant, overseas stock markets have been retreating again overnight and into this morning with the Dax and FTSE both plunging 3.1%, while the Nikkei and the Hang Seng fell 2.25%-2.50%.
Continuing instability has kept a tailwind behind gold and WTI crude oil, which are up 0.5% and 3.75% respectively. Copper is up 1.8% while Bitcoin is down 1.3%.
US index futures are still in the red but have managed to cut some of their earlier losses after getting a double boost from today’s US nonfarm payrolls report. The jobs component increased significantly more than expected (678K vs street 400K and a slight upward revision to last month). Meanwhile, the average hourly earnings wage inflation component increased less than expected and eased off slightly from last month (5.1% vs street 5.8% and previous 5.5%).Currently, the three main US index futures contracts are trading down 0.5% to 0.7%.
SIA Wealth In The Media:
Chief Market Strategist Colin Cieszynski appeared on BNN Bloomberg today where he discussed current tactical rotation and relative strength in equity markets including renewed interest in the Materials and Defense sectors. He also provided an update on recent trading and long-term trends in the gold and oil markets.
There were areas that were depressed in the markets, but are now bouncing back: Colin Cieszynski
Investors should be keeping an eye on nuclear talks, and how it will impact oil
