Gold pops, Dow hits 34k!

TAKEAWAYS

•    Gold jumps as bond yields continue to slide
•    Biggest 3-day drop in US Treasury yields in 10 months
•    US dollar continues to drop despite huge 9.8% gain in March US retail sales
•    EUR/USD edged back from 6-week high and 1.20
•    Crude oil gained for 4th day, Brent crude tops $67 handle
•    Dow Jones hits 34,000 for 1st time, S&P 500 hits new record
•    Ethereum (ETH/USD) made new record highs, nears $2500
•    Bank stocks were choppy after solid Q1 earnings
•    US announces fresh sanctions against Russia
•    DAY AHEAD: China Q1 GDP

BEST CHART
EUR/GBP – Daily Candlesticks

 
Source: GKFX Prime / Metatrader 4 

EUR/GBP has rallied strongly off the 0.85 handle, recently touching 0.87. The move breaks a sharp down trend that has been in place this year and potentially indicates a near-term bottom.

GURU WISDOM

“You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.” - Abraham Maslow

MARKETS

*Daily closing price
↘ EUR/USD    1.1969        (-0.08%)
↗ GBP/USD    1.3786        (+0.06%)
↘ USD/JPY    108.75        (-0.14%)
↗ S&P 500    4170.42    (+1.11%)
↗ Gold        1764.45    (+1.62%)
↗ Oil (Brent)    66.83        (+0.38%)
↗ Bitcoin    63,530        (+0.93%)

NEWS

Forex markets mostly took a strong set of US economic data in their stride with an initially positive dollar reaction rolling over. US March retail sales came in at a whopping 9.8% m/m and to top it off jobless claims dropped to their lowest post-pandemic.

The data underscored what looks like a strong recovery in the US economy but a ‘don’t fight the Fed’ mentality has taken hold in bond markets. So instead of yields rising in reaction the strong data, they fell significantly. US 10-year Treasuries yields just completed the biggest 3-day drop since June. Comments from Fed officials Mester and Daly helped trigger some of the moves.

Largely as a result of the lower yields, the price of gold soared, breaking through the neckline of a double bottom we first noted in the weekly webinar on April 6th.

The lower yields boosted tech stocks once again, helping to lift the S&P 500 to another record high and the Dow Jones reached 34,000 for the first time. A standout individual move was in Coinbase (COIN) which continues to rollover after its IPO, now down $100 from its opening price. There were also record highs to be found in Europe with the STOXX 600 reaching an all-time high.

Bitcoin has been consolidating gains but Ether continues to out-perform with a fresh record and is coming close to $2500. There has been extra enthusiasm after an upgrade to the Ethereum network, which will reduce transaction fees.

DAY AHEAD 

*Times in GMT
02:00 – China Gross Domestic Product (YoY)(Q1) [18.9 % Exp vs. 6.5 % Prev] 
02:00 – China Gross Domestic Product (QoQ)(Q1) [1.5 % Exp vs.     2.6 % Prev] 
02:00 – China Industrial Production (YoY)(Mar) [17.2 % Exp vs. 35.1 % Prev]
02:00 – China Retail Sales (YoY)(Mar) [28 % Exp vs. 33.8 % Prev]
09:00 – Eurozone Consumer Price Index (YoY)(Mar) [1.3 % Exp vs. 1.3 % Prev]

SOURCES

https://www.gkfxprime.com/trading-tools/economic-calendar
https://www.investing.com/currencies/eur-usd
https://www.forexlive.com/Headlines/1
https://investorplace.com/2021/04/ethereum-price-predictions-red-hot-eth-hits-all-time-high-of-2478-whats-next/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/european-markets-corporate-earnings-and-inflation-in-focus.html