Mixed night on risk markets, where in Europe, Germany’s 2011 GDP growth at 3% did little to settle nerves as the data also suggested a contraction for the Euro’s strongest economy, whilst the good anecdotal news from the US Fed Biege Book failed to set US equities markets on fire as corporate earnings season rolled on.
In detail:
The UK FTSE dropped 25 points or 0.4% to finish at 5670 points, still below its resistance level at 5700 points, whilst the German DAX was flat to finish at 6152 points, and although above resistance ,is still below the closely watched 200 day moving average:
The Euro (EUR/USD) fell below 1.28 against the USD again, currently trading at 1.271, as the USD Index firmed again, up 0.45 points to 81.56. As the weekly chart of the EUR/USD below shows, it seems the currency is headed back to its May 2010 lows, with no uptick in sight:
US markets finished flat, with the tech heavy NASDAQ leading the charge again, up 0.3% to 2710, the broader industrial S&P500 flat at 1292, and the Dow Jones losing 13 points to 12449.
Banks were the major winners on the US bourses last night, the whole sector up 1%, with Citigroup up over 4%, Bank of America up 3.5%. Earnings season goes to full throttle next week, with 48 companies reporting, so we should see some volatility and volume returning.
The AUD slipped again, but is remaining resilient, just over 1.03 against the USD, while it broke above 81 cents against the Euro, zooming out of its broad trading range throughout 2011:
To commodities, and WTI crude, took back all of yesterdays gains by falling over $1 a barrel to $101.05, with Brent crude holding back the falls, only down 50c to $112.70 USD per barrel.
Gold ticked up a few dollars to finish at yesterdays intraday high at $1640USD an ounce, waiting for the open of the Asian session, and remaining mildly bullish in the short term:
Other metal commodities were mixed, with aluminium up slightly, by 0.3%, copper up nearly 1% building on a breakout, and nickel slipping after yesterdays 2% gain.
The Aussie SPI Futures point to a slightly higher open for the S&P/ASX200 index, currently up approx. 5 points, probably opening around the 4190 points level, below resistance at 4200 points and likely to have a sideways day until the release of Chinese inflation figures at midday.
Trading Day will cover the Asian market session and the “ASX8” stocks after the close in the afternoon.