Market Outlook Dow headed for third consecutive losing week

 

US Markets U.S. markets were down overnight after a negative trading day. Market sentiment is shifting after official data showed that inflation is higher than expected. Thursday's Producer Price Index figures showed that wholesale prices rose 0.7% in January, compared to the 0.4% increase expected by economists.  That comes after official data earlier this week showed that consumer prices increased by 0.5% in January, faster than projections of a 0.4% rise.  The Dow has lost 0.51% since Monday and is headed for its third consecutive losing week.  The S&P 500 is flat so far this week after closing down a week earlier.  The Nasdaq, which has gained 1.18% since Monday, has seen gains in five of the past six weeks.  The current 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is set at 3.86180% Dow Jones  33,696.85 -1.26% S&P 500  4,090.41 -1.38% Nasdaq  11,855.83 -1.78% Russell 2000 1,942.21 -0.96% *Stock Market data as of the last closing bell. Data received directly from the reference indexes through ICE Data Services. Do you not understand any of these figures?

Canadian Markets Tiff Macklem, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, told the House of Commons finance committee on Thursday that excess demand is pushing up prices. Macklem said the labor market is too tight, with unemployment near record lows after 150,000 jobs were added in January.  After raising rates by a quarter point in January, the Bank of Canada said it would temporarily pause interest rate hikes. However, Macklem indicated that more hikes are possible if prices continue increasing. The Bank of Canada's interest rate is currently at 4.5%, the highest since 2007.  TSX  20,606.42 -0.55% *Canadian stock prices are as of the last close. Data received directly from the references indexes through ICE Data Services

European Markets European markets closed up slightly on Thursday following a volatile day of trading.  France's CAC 40 hit an all-time high early in the morning before falling later in the day, when U.S. markets opened. The FTSE 100 closed above 8,000 on Thursday, a new all-time high.  The Stoxx 600 gained 0.2% on the day, led by a 2% rise in the banking industry.  Euro STOXX 50  4,297.24 0.40% UK (FTSE 100)  8,012.53 0.18% Germany (DAX)  15,533.64 0.18% France (CAC 40) 7,366.16 0.89% *European stock prices are as of 7 am ET. Data received directly from the reference indexes through ICE Data Services.

Asian Markets Markets in Asia closed up on Thursday but fell on Friday.  Stocks in Australia are down after the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia warned that inflation is a significant risk to the economy if it cannot be controlled.  Singapore's exports declined by 20.6% in December 2022, versus the same month a year earlier.  Hong Kong's unemployment was down to 3.4% in the November to January period, from 3.5% in the October to December period.  S&P Asia 50 4,876.74 1.28% Japan (Nikkei 225) 27,696.44 0.71% South Korea (KOSPI) 2,475.48 1.96% China (Hang Seng) 20,987.67 0.84% India (SENSEX) 61,319.51 0.07% *Asian stock prices are as of 7 am ET. Data received directly from the reference indexes through ICE Data Services.

Commodities Oil prices fell slightly on Thursday following the publication of mixed economic data from the U.S.  Brent crude lost 0.3% and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.1% on the day.  Some analysts believe that after rising over the past few weeks, oil prices will reach a plateau amid plans by the U.S. to release more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister said that OPEC+ will cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day by the end of the year.  Oil (NYSEARCA:OIL) 29.79 -0.87% Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) 170.75 -0.08% Silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) 19.84 -0.25% Corn (NYSEARCA:CORN) 26.50 -0.11% Lumber (NASDAQ:WOOD) 75.12 -1.20% *Commodity prices are as of 7 am ET. Data from MarketWatch. To understand why investors track the prices of these commodities, .

Currency Exchange Rates The U.S. Dollar rose after data showed that wholesale prices increased above expectations last month. The U.S. Dollar Index jumped over 0.5% right after producer price data was released on Thursday. It gained 0.1% during Asian trading hours on Friday morning.  The U.S. recorded 194,000 unemployment claims last week, slightly below expectations, which contributed to the strengthening of the USD.  Investors now believe that Federal Reserve will need to rise interest rate hikes again due to the tight labor market and higher-than-expected inflation figures.  UK(GBP) £0.84 1.80% Europe (EURO) €0.94 0.73% Canada (Canadian Dollar) $1.35 0.99% Japan (Yen) ¥134.26 0.97% *Exchange rates as of 7 am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them,

Cryptocurrency Blur surpassed OpenSea in NFT trading volume on Wednesday for the first time.  A federal judge has approved a plan to restructure Compute Serve, one of the largest crypto mining firms in the U.S. before it filed for bankruptcy in September. Platypus Finance's Stablecoin USP lost its peg with the U.S. Dollar, falling to $0.48 after reports that the company may have lost $8.5M in a flash-loan attack.  The SEC has sued Terraform Labs and Do Kwon for allegedly misleading investors with TerraUSD. Bitcoin $23,762.30 7.01% Ethereum $1,654.73 -1.27% Litecoin $99.73 -3.04% Bitcoin Cash $129.24 1.94% *Exchange rates as of 7 am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them,