Summary:
- Stocks begin the week brightly after US-China announce trade war truce
- News sends precious metals lower but Gold and Silver pare losses
- EURUSD bounces from new 2018 low
- Pompeo comments have little impact on Oil
- Crypto markets fall; Snoop Dogg performs at XRP event
The news over the weekend that the US and China had called a truce on their trade war has caused a noticeable reaction in the markets with stock futures opening sharply higher last night. The US500 opened around 20 points above Friday’s closing level, producing a large gap that is greater in size than the entire trading range on the final session of last week!
The news had an impact on several asset classes with precious metals dropping below last week’s lows this morning. However, these declines were pared in both Gold and Silver as the session wore on and by the European cash close these markets are back to little changed on the day.
There was similar price action in the US dollar with the buck rising across the board in early trade before some of the gains were handed back. The EURUSD hit a new low for 2018 just above the 1.17 handle before buyers stepped in to defend the mark. This week could prove a decisive one for the Euro with PMI releases on Wednesday and the FOMC minutes offering a potential reversal catalyst should they impress.
The past few weeks have seen a series of notable moves in the Oil price, with the market hitting a 3 1/2 year high on Thursday above the $80 a barrel mark. One potentially telling development today has been the market’s reaction to comments from US secretary of state, which are best described as hawkish with regards to Iran. Price has moved off its lows since the remarks but it remains below 79 and there are some suggestions that the short term trend has turned lower.
Cryptocurrencies have dropped lower today with all 5 markets in the red. Despite the Ripple community hosting what they called “XRP Community Night” with famous US rapper Snoop Dogg he did not even mention a word regarding the cryptocurrency and it has unsurprisingly failed to see any positive reaction in the market.