Market Outlook Earnings season goes into full swing

 

S&P 500: Last week, the S&P 500 closed up for the fourth time in the past five weeks and has gained 8.20% year to date.   The Dow Jones: The index has gained 2.26% year to date after rising around 1% last week. It has closed up for four consecutive weeks. NASDAQ: The NASDAQ Composite was the worst-performing of the major indexes in 2022 but has gained 17% so far this year.

US Markets U.S. stock futures rose over the weekend, ahead of earnings announcements this week. Investors will scrutinize bank earnings to get a good sense of their financial health following last month's bank turmoil.  The results of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, which were released last week, beat expectations.  The current 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is set at 3.51380% Dow Jones  33,886.47 -0.42% S&P 500  4,137.64 -0.21% Nasdaq  12,123.47 -0.35% Russell 2000 1,781.15 -0.86% *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?

Commodities Oil prices rose early on Monday morning due to OPEC+'s plans to cut production.  Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained $0.17 and $0.14, respectively, in the early hours of trading.  The International Energy Agency forecasts record high demand in 2023 of 101.9 million barrels per day (bpd), up 2 million bpd from last year, but warns that OPEC+ output cuts that will kick in later this year could affect supply.  Investors will try to assess the health of the Chinese economy since the country is the world's second-largest importer of crude oil.  Oil (NYSEARCA:OIL) 31.25 0.74% Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) 186.36 -1.77% Silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) 23.31 -1.81% Corn (NYSEARCA:CORN) 25.11 1.37% Lumber (NASDAQ:WOOD) 72.06 -1.27% *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 has risen from a one-year low amid increased expectations of another interest rate hike in May. China’s offshore yuan fell over 0.1% to 6.8807 per USD. Investors are pricing in an 81% chance of an interest rate hike at the next Federal Reserve meeting in early May.  The University of Michigan released a report showing that short-term inflation expectations are rising.  UK (GBP) £0.81 0.13% Europe (EURO) €0.91 1.11% Canada (Canadian Dollar) $1.34 -1.16% Japan (Yen) ¥133.97 0.11% *Exchange rates as of 7 am ET. Data from Morningstar Financial Research. To understand why we track these currencies and the differences between them,