Gold slides after ‘death cross’

TAKEAWAYS

•    Gold settles at lowest price since June after ‘death cross’
•    Stocks gain as Fed minutes show commitment to stimulus
•    Taiwan index pops 3% upon reopening 
•    Dow hits record high, tech stocks drag S&P 500 lower
•    Bitcoin continues rally over $50k, hits $52,000
•    Dollar continues to gain after US retail sales surge in January
•    EUR/USD slide takes it close to 1.20
•    Platinum price rise cools 
•    Oil price adds to gains as US energy market disruption continues in winter storm
•    Players in ‘GameStop Saga’ will convene at hearing before Congress today
•    DAY AHEAD: GameStop hearing, ECB minutes, oil inventories

GURU WISDOM

"It's not always easy to do what's not popular, but that's where you make your money. Buy stocks that look bad to less careful investors and hang on until their real value is recognized." – John Neff

MARKETS

*Daily closing price
↘ EUR/USD    1.2041        (-0.52%)
↘ GBP/USD    1.3865        (-0.26%)
↘ USD/JPY    105.89        (-0.15%)
↘ S&P 500    3931.74    (-0.02%)
↗ Hang Seng    31,084.94    (+1.10%)
↘ Gold        1775.12    (-1.07%)
↗ Oil (Brent)    64.45        (+1.74%)
↗ Bitcoin    52,365        (+6.38%)

NEWS

Blowout US retail sales figures saw the dollar add to recent gains and gold hit an intraday 2-month low and its lowest close since June. Treasury yields paused the recent runup despite the strong data but remain on course for the best weekly gain in six weeks.

The price of oil continues to surge with Brent crude now close to $65 per barrel, having only just hit $60 last week. The supply disruption and grid failure in the Texas winter storm has seen the price spike in recent days, bolstered by higher demand expectations as vaccines rollout. 

Asian stock markets are playing catchup with other global regions after the Lunar New Year. Stocks in Taiwan gained 3% on Wednesday and other regional indices including China are set to see similar gains when exchanges reopen.

Bitcoin continued its epic rally on Tuesday having crashed through the $50,000 level – reached up to $52,000. Far from the suspected profit-taking, it seems that traders who were short the cryptocurrency with stop losses above $50k are being squeezed, causing forced buying that is pushing the price up even further.

DAY AHEAD 

*Times in GMT
00:30 – Australia Employment Change s.a. (Jan) [40 K Exp vs. 50 K Prev]
12:30 – ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts 
13:30 – US Initial Jobless Claims (Feb 12) [765 K Exp vs. 793 K Prev]
15:30 - EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change (Feb 12) [-2.175 M Exp vs. -6.644 M Prev]