Gold tops $1750, 6-week high

TAKEAWAYS

•    US dollar swings lower as weekly jobless claims spike for 2nd week
•    EUR/USD rises back over 1.19
•    Gold rises back over $1750 per oz to 6-week high
•    UK’s FTSE 250 index hits record high, while blue chip FTSE 100 highest since pandemic
•    S&P 500 hits another record
•    Tech stocks ‘reigning supreme’ on US stock market
•    US considering sending warships to Black Sea over Russia / Ukraine tensions– source CNN
•    Portugal, Netherlands limit AstraZeneca vaccine to over-60s
•    DAY AHEAD: US PPI, Canada unemployment

BEST CHART
UK100 – Daily Candlesticks

 
Source: GKFX / MT4 (March 9, 2021)

The UK100 has broken out to its highest since the sharp declines of March last year. The breakout completes a possible bullish ascending triangle pattern.

GURU WISDOM

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie

MARKETS

*Daily closing price
↗ EUR/USD    1.1914        (+0.37%)
↘ GBP/USD    1.3734        (-0.00%)
↘ USD/JPY    109.29        (-0.51%)
↗ S&P 500    4097.17    (+0.42%)
↗ Hang Seng    29,016.37    (+1.53%)
↗ Gold        1755.62    (+1.06%)
↗ Oil (Brent)    63.30        (+0.22%)
↗ Bitcoin    57,539.5    (+2.82%)

NEWS

Weak economic data on the day but more importantly the onslaught of dovish messaging from Fed officials, including Fed Chair Powell is pushing bond yields lower – and that is driving moves in other parts of the market. While other central banks like the ECB have sought to adjust policy to handle the higher bond yields, the Fed have so far quite effectively jawboned yields lower. EUR/USD is back over the 1.19 handle.

Lower Treasury yields make gold more competitive as a non-yielding investment asset and the yellow metal reached its highest in 6 weeks. The resurgence in gold comes amid a pause in the rampant Bitcoin rally this year. Bitcoin is heralded by some as the ‘digital gold’. However, Bitcoin did gain by 2% on Thursday, it has been trading in a choppy range under $60,000.

Technology stocks, which suffered during the rising yield environment are back in good form, driving gains in the S&P 500 which hit another record high. Outside of the US, the UK mid-cap index the FTSE 250 hit a record high, which was matched by a breakout to a 1-year high in the FTSE 100 (see chart).

DAY AHEAD 

*Times in GMT
02:00 - German Industrial Production (MoM) (Feb) [1.5% Exp vs. -2.5% Prev]     
02:00 - German Trade Balance (Feb) [20.0B Exp vs. 22.2B Prev]     
08:30 - US PPI (YoY) (Mar) [3.8% Exp vs. 2.8% Prev]
08:30 - Canada Employment Change (Mar) [100.0K Exp vs. 259.2K Prev]

Source: TradingWriters.com