Articles tagged with "weekly-update"

The S&P 500 fell on Friday to post a flat close on the week. Rising yields and elevated oil prices reminded investors that the macro backdrop is turning challenging. Friday’s US jobs report raised the pressure on the Fed to hike as the report was considerably stronger than expected. All the attention will be on inflation data in this shortened week for US investors, plus the usual suspects of oil and bond yields, ahead of the FOMC rate decision in the following week.

Last week’s main theme has been a shift away from the US dollar towards currencies of economies with stronger fiscal positions and lower debt levels. The brief rally in long-dated US Treasuries helped fuel gains in gold and silver, while the Swiss franc also benefited from increased haven demand. The euro has performed reasonably well too, with the Eurozone economy continuing to expand modestly despite geopolitical uncertainty and higher energy prices.

Bond yields pushed higher again on Friday as the consolidation near the upper end of the recent range continued, mirroring the price action of oil prices, posing threat to the gold recovery attempt.

Gold managed to bounce a bit on Friday, although it was too little to prevent a weekly decline. On the week, the metal fell 2.5%, making its second consecutive weekly decline. Though gold again managed to hold its own above the key $4,000 level on a daily and weekly closing basis, the metal was now flat on the month.

The EUR/USD ended the week on the back foot, surrendering its earlier poise during Friday’s session. From mid-week until that point, the pair had displayed a rather unexpected degree of composure, even as tensions in the Middle East flared up again. A sharp rebound in crude oil swiftly changed the market narrative by mid-week, herding investors back into cautious, defensive trades. By the final stages, however, the mood had darkened.

As markets move into the final stretch of June, one of the main factors still shaping the major cryptocurrency market is the significant weakness that has remained in place for several weeks. The latest week was no exception, as most of the crypto market posted relevant losses and new lows, including Bitcoin, which fell below the 60k area and reached a new low for the year.

With the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy outlook under the new chairman supporting the dollar, this has been among the reasons why gold has fallen in recent weeks. That’s not to mention the impact of fading haven demand amid the de-escalation of the Middle East tensions, and the loss of prior speculative bullish moment.

With only a few days left in June, one of the factors still weighing on the cryptocurrency market is the steady outflow of capital and the decline in demand activity. This dynamic has started to put more pressure on the crypto market, as investors continue to show a high perception of risk and appear to be moving toward more stable assets, such as the US dollar, in the short term.

The EUR/USD found some mild support on profit-taking on Friday when US investors were out. I can’t see the pair falling too much lower from here, and think it is best positioned for a recovery among the majors once the dollar-buying runs its course.

Gold closed lower for the second consecutive week on Friday, although it finished the week well off its lows after rebounding on Thursday and holding on to some of those gains during Friday’s consolidation.

At the time of writing, the US dollar looked set to finish the week on a strong footing after a much stronger-than-expected labour market report prompted investors to reassess the outlook for Federal Reserve policy, sending yields higher.

Gold managed to claw back some ground over the last couple of sessions, but despite the rebound, the precious metal still ended the month in negative territory. After falling 11.5% in March, the metal edged 1% lower in April and 1.8% in May.