Another lacklustre session for the broader based US benchmark stock index yesterday as the S&P 500 erased its initial gain of +0.4% from its intraday all-time high level of 3682 and ended the day in the red by -0.06% to close at 3666.
The tech heavy Nasdaq 100 ended with a small gain of +0.09% (12467) assisted by Tesla’s advance of +4.3% reinforced by an analyst upgrade from Goldman Sachs that raised its rating from “neutral” to “buy” with a target price of US$780 while Big Tech underperformed; Apple (-0.1%), Microsoft (-0.5%), Google/Alphabet (-0.2%) and Facebook (--2.0%). In addition, the more value/cyclical oriented indices fared better with gains seen in the Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.3% (29969) and Russell 2000 +0.6% (1848).
From the S&P sector performance perspective, the only two stand-out outperformers were Energy (+1.1%) and Real Estate (+0.7%) where Energy stocks had benefited from a positive news flow from OPEC+ meeting where members agreed to ease oil outputs cuts next year starting January by adding a smaller than expected increase of 500,000 barrels a day after a week of fraught negotiations; WTI crude oil futures soared by 0.8% (US$45.64 per barrel) yesterday.
Overall, the movement of US stock market had been dominated by conflicting news flow; from the negative side, Pfizer reported that it was facing supply chain constraint on its COVID-19 vaccine where it can only distribute half of its supplies globally. On the positive side, fiscal stimulus optimism remained intact as Senate Majority Republican Leader McConnell commented that a stimulus compromise was “within reach”.
Over to the foreign exchange market, the USD continued to inch lower in general ahead of today’s key US jobs data where the consensus for November’s non-farm payroll is forecasted to be weaker at 469K below October’s figure of 638K. US Dollar Index’s major bearish trend since March 2020 remains intact where, it printed a low of 90.51 yesterday, close to a 2-year low since 23 April 2018.
Performances for Asia’s key benchmark stock indices are mix at this time of the writing; Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.4%(26690), South Korea’s KOSPI200 +2.0%(369.08), Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index -0.1%(26699) & Hang Seng TECH Index +0.2% (7954), China’s CSI 300 -0.6%(5026), Australia’s ASX 200 +0.5%(6645), Singapore’s Straits Times Index +0.3%(2830).
Chart of the day – EUR/USD
“Double Bottom” bullish configuration in progress. 1.2340/2555 next major resistance to watch
