Index
This week, the Dow Jones slipped 0.88%, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell 0.3% and 0.28%.
Due to the impact of the weaker economic data, U.S. retail sales in December fell by 1.9% month-on-month, hitting a new low since February last year; core retail sales fell 2.3% month-on-month, lower than analysts' expectations for a 0.2% increase. The data showed that a sharp rise in inflation has severely dampened consumer spending. Manufacturing output fell 0.3 percent in December after a revised 0.6 percent gain in the prior month, Federal Reserve data showed on Friday. Total industrial production, which includes mining and utility production, fell 0.1%. U.S. manufacturing output unexpectedly fell in December, reflecting continued woes among manufacturers over shortages of raw materials and labor. Markets continue to focus on the Fed's policy moves. Several Fed officials recently said they expected to raise interest rates starting in March. Federal Reserve Governor Lyle Brainard told a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday that a rate hike is coming, while Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said “we need to do something about inflation” and projected at least three rate hikes in 2022.
Stocks
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Bank released its fourth-quarter earnings report, officially kicking off the fourth-quarter report for U.S stocks. According to the company's disclosure, Q4 achieved revenue of US$30.35 billion, compared with market expectations of US$29.9 billion, a slight increase from the same period last year; net profit was US$10.4 billion, down 14% from the same period last year. Although profits have fallen year-on-year, the largest bank in the United States will still record a net profit of $48.3 billion in 2021, a record high with revenue of $125.3 billion.
Assets under management at BlackRock (BLK), the world's largest asset manager, rose to a record high of more than $10 trillion in the fourth quarter, helped by the market rally. Investors added a net $169 billion in the last three months of last year to BlackRock's long-term investment vehicles, including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, BlackRock said in a statement Friday.
Ford Motor (F) announced today its 2021 sales data in China. In 2021, a total of 624,802 vehicles were sold, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%. The Lincoln brand was the most eye-catching in the market, with annual sales reaching 91,621 units, a year-on-year increase of 48.3%, setting the best annual sales record since the brand entered China.
Crypto
Electric car maker Tesla has begun accepting Dogecoin as a payment option on some of its products. Tesla's US official website shows that Tesla's limited-edition Cyberwhistle whistle is priced at 300 Dogecoins, a four-wheel-drive customized for children, the Cyberquad for Kids is priced at 12,020 Dogecoins, Tesla Giga Texas Belt Buckle The price is 835 Dogecoins. Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that in the future, Dogecoin can be used to buy some Tesla peripheral products. Investor interest in bitcoin futures ETFs has plummeted due to the recent downturn in the crypto market.
Data show that the number of bitcoin contracts held by the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE:BITO), the first U.S. bitcoin futures ETF listed in October last year, has fallen to its lowest level since November 2021. At the same time, the ETF's assets under management have fallen from a peak of $1.4 billion to the current $1.16 billion. Arcane Research, believes that the reasons for the sharp drop in investor interest in BITO are mainly due to Bitcoin had a terrible run over the past two months, with the cryptocurrency falling all the way from $69,000 to around $43,000 today. and BITO ETF has higher operating costs, needs to pay a high rollover cost every month.
Metals
Spot gold fell on Friday to close at $1,817.94 an ounce, affected by the prospect of U.S. interest rate hikes and a stronger U.S dollar pushing up U.S bond yields benchmark 10-year bond yields strengthened, while the dollar index rose 0.4% at one point, making overseas buying The cost of buying gold became more expensive.
TD Securities strategists Bart Melek and others said in a report that considering the market will ultimately remain highly focused on the exit of the Fed's easing policy, the reduction of upward funding sources in the next few weeks may make gold prices prone to corrections. Still, U.S economic data reinforced concerns that the global economy is slowing amid rising inflation and the spread of omicron. Gold remained above $1,800 an ounce and headed for its best week since November, even as Fed officials became increasingly hawkish, setting the stage for a tightening of monetary policy this year.
Philip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures, pointed out that this week's weak data could eventually lead to a sell-off in the broader market or prompt the Federal Reserve to curb rate hike expectations, and whichever happens, gold will benefit.
Commodity & Futures
Crude oil prices rose for a fourth straight week, the longest winning streak since October last year. U.S. oil rose more than 2%, hitting a new high of $84.45 per barrel since November 10; the oil station reached the 86 mark and closed at the highest level since October 2014.
As global consumption weathers the omicron outbreak, there are signs that supply and demand are tightening. The oil market is off to a strong start to the year, underlined by falling U.S. inventories and demand for the product at multi-year highs.
Rob Haworth, the senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said the market for oil is improving as people are skipping the omicron in anticipation of a restart and a rebound in activity, much like the scenario in August. Crude prices have recovered most of their losses late last year from omicron and the White House-led release of national oil reserves.
The physical market also supported crude oil futures prices, with supply-changing premiums at healthy levels. As oil prices climbed, traders were watching whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies could deliver on their monthly output increases in full.
Forex
On Friday, the U.S. dollar index rose for the first time in four trading days, and U.S. bond yields rose across the board, as the view that the Feds tightening policy expectations that triggered the recent sell-off had been largely priced in weakened, and financial market risk appetite weakened. But this week ended lower About 0.6%, the worst weekly performance since early September. The US 10-year Treasury yield rose 8 basis points to 1.784%.
Bank of America strategists said the data showed that the options market was more bullish on the outlook for the dollar than the spot market. A high put/call ratio and a large disconnect between options and spot movements in 2021 showing that EUR, JPY and CHF have the most downside against the USD.
EUR/USD GBP/USD dipped as investors assessed the impact of a possible leadership change in the UK. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing the worst crisis of his term as prime minister after it was revealed he held a series of parties in Downing Street during the coronavirus lockdown.
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