Negative Reactions to Positive Earnings Continue

Earnings reports have continued to trigger selloffs in large cap stocks overnight and into this morning as investors focus more on future outlooks than past results. These moves provide more evidence to suggest that the big market rally of the last three months likely has already priced in high expectations. Chipotle Mexican Grill is down […]

US Stocks Pause as Traders Digest Earnings and Await Powell Speech

With a 0.14% gain yesterday, the S&P 500 managed to eke out another record high close Monday, but Tuesday finds US index futures hitting pause and trading flat to down 0.1%. Traders appear to be waiting to see if there will be any hints in Fed Chair Powell’s speech this morning as to whether the […]

Mixed World Markets Consider Earnings and Tariffs

Global stock markets are off to a mixed start as the new trading week begins. US index futures are up 0.2%-0.3% and the Hang Seng gained 0.7% overnight. Conversely, the DAX and FTSE are down 0.1%-0.2%, Sydney lost 1.0%, and Tokyo lost 0.2%. In commodity action, Copper is up 0.5%, Crude Oil is flat, and […]

TACO Trade Shifts to the US Dollar

Reports that President Trump has dialled down his threats related to firing Fed Chair Powell has sparked a rally in the US Dollar, suggesting that concerns about the independence of the Fed had been weighing in the currency. Gold is down 0.9%, the Aussie is down 1.0%, the Euro, Loonie and Yen are all down […]

Fear Subsides on Reports of Iran Talks

Amid reports of potential talks between European leaders and Iran, and the White House suggesting that the US may take a couple of weeks to decide whether to launch an attack against Iran, investors appear to be dialling down their defensive postures. The price of Brent Crude Oil is down 3.2% this morning while Gold […]

Stocks Slide Amid Central Bank Decisions

US exchanges are closed for the Juneteenth holiday, but that has not stopped traders from reacting to political and monetary developments. Overseas markets are down in overnight trading with Hang Seng losing 2.0%, the Nikkei sliding 1.0%, the DAX dropping 0.6%, and the FTSE falling 0.4%. US index futures are down 0.4%-0.6% ahead of closing […]

Markets Stabilize as Focus Turns to Central Banks

There were no major new developments in the Middle East overnight, so investors’ focus has now turned to central banks with three interest rate decisions due over the next 24 hours. The Fed is expected to announce that it is holding the Fed Funds rate steady at 4.50% at 2:00 pm EDT, leaving investors to […]

Markets Digest War Developments; G7 and Fed Meet This Week

Clawing back some of Friday’s 1.1%-1.8% US index losses, US index futures are up 0.6% to 0.8% this morning. The price of Gold is down 0.5%, the price of Oil is down 1.1% and the price of Bitcoin is up 1.4%. This action suggests that some of the fear which gripped markets when the Israel-Iran […]

US Political Woes Weigh on Wall Street

For much of this year, market movements have been driven by international political developments, particularly trade and tariff tensions between the US and other major economies. This week, however, the focus has shifted to domestic politics, as attention turns to the White House’s tax and spending bill currently moving through Congress. Concerns that the bill […]

World Markets Shrug off US Credit Rating Downgrade

Over the weekend, Moody’s cut its rating on US debt to Aa1 from AAA, and on Monday, markets showed resilience in the face of this news. US stock markets finished flat to up 0.2%, clawing back early losses. The US 10-year treasury note yield rallied up to 5.00% then settled back toward 4.45% where it […]