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