Summary:
- US100 build on Friday’s gains to post new all-time high
- Crypto market turn lower as interest seemingly declines
- Gold drops back to retest potentially key support
- Reports that ECB set to pull trigger on rates in mid-2019
It’s been a positive start to the week for stock market bulls with most major indices rising so far today. This bright mood seems to be a continuation of Friday’s rally which saw US markets surge higher following the most recent jobs report, which showed a strong number of roles had been added and that wage growth had risen more slowly than expected. The US100 is the standout performer across the pond, building on Fridays strong gains to post a new record high during today’s session.
According to the data from Google Trends searches for “Bitcoin” has plunged 80% recently, and the same has seen in other digital currencies such as Ripple, Ethereum as well as “cryptocurrency” as a whole. Whilst this news can’t be really attributed to the declines seen today it does suggest that the upside may be limited unless there’s an increase in interest going forward.
There’s been a little weakness seen in precious metals today with losses in the range of 0.3-0.6% currently seen in Gold, Platinum and Silver. First off if we start with Gold, we saw the market move off its weekly lows on Friday following the NFP report which showed a lower than expected rise in average earnings, but despite this it ended the week little changed. Today the price has failed to hold on to the bulk of those gain which saw a rise of approximately $10 in the hours that followed the release and the market is now back below 1320.
In the FX space there was some interesting developments for the Euro today with some sources suggesting that the ECB based their latest macroeconomic assumptions on raising rates in mid-2019. Although, the current consensus points to roughly the same dates with regard to the first rate hike as well as the end of bond purchases it could solidify expectations that the ultimate end of loose monetary policy is just around the corner for all continuously dovish suggestions from Mario Draghi.
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