Thread: Forex News from InstaForex

Dow Touches Record High but Ends Flat After Comey Testimony





U.S. equities finished mostly higher on Thursday as Wall Street priced in former FBI Director James Comey's testimony. The “Trump trade” made a comeback but the S&P and Dow industrials eventually ended little changed.


The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.04 percent to finish at 21,182.53, as Caterpillar led gains while Walt Disney lagged behind. The S&P 500 added 0.03 percent to 2,433.79, with financials leading five sectors up and utilities was the largest decliner. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.39 percent to end at 6,321.76.


The Trump 'reflation trade' was back for the day with the S&P 500 financial sector gaining 1.1 percent.


The S&P 1500 construction and engineering index climbed 1.4 percent while the measure of construction materials stocks rose 1.5 percent. The S&P 1500 steel sector index advanced 4.1 percent, the most since April 20.


The announcement of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that a national security review of the U.S. steel industry will be made to protect interests of domestic steel producers and consumers had bolstered infrastructure stocks.


Utilities stocks dropped the most on the S&P 500 as Treasury yields rose. The S&P utilities sector fell 0.88 percent, the most since mid March.


Among stocks active in corporate news, Alibaba jumped 13.3 percent to $142.34 after the company said it sees revenue growth of 45 to 49 percent in the 2018 fiscal year. Yahoo, which has a 15.5 percent stake in Alibaba, advanced 10.2 percent to $55.71.


Chipmaker Nvidia bounced 7.3 percent to $159.94 after Citigroup cited its bullish outlook on the stock and said in the long term it could reach $300.


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Australian Economy Likely to have added 10,000 Jobs in May





The data released last week indicated that the Australian economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.7 percent in the first quarter. Even with subdued growth, the labor market added 37,400 jobs in April. Most of the employment gains in the month was driven by part time employment, rising 49,000. This more than countered the 11,000 drop in full-time employment.


The participation rate remained stable at 64.8 percent as the unemployment rate dropped two tenths of a percentage point to 5.7 percent, approaching a low not seen since 2013, noted Wells Fargo. Even if employment growth has been solid, wage growth has been more stagnant.


However, the economy is likely to have added 10,000 jobs in May, according to consensus forecast. The forward momentum of labor market permitted the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep rates on hold at 1.5 percent during its latest meeting.


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Treasury Yields Continue to Rally Ahead of Fed Meeting





U.S. government bond yields edged up as prices retreated ahead of the closely monitored two-day U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting scheduled to start on Tuesday.


The yield on the two-year Treasury note, which is particularly sensitive to shifts in Fed policy, advanced 2.1 basis points to 1.359 percent. Meanwhile the yield on the 10-year note advanced 1.4 basis points to 2.215 percent. The yield on the long bond or the 30-year bond advanced 1.5 basis points to 2.867 percent.


Treasury yields rallied due to expectations of a quarter-point rate increase by the Fed by the end of the June policy meeting. Aside from this, investors will also be looking for clues on the pace of the rate increases after the latest one, with odds of a fifth rate hike since December 2015 falling below 50 percent.


Market participants are also expected to look forward to consumer price data slated to be released on Wednesday as Fed policymakers called the weak consumer price data in March and April as temporary to build up a June rate hike.


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New Zealand Food Prices Gain 2.4% In May





Food prices in New Zealand were up 2.4 percent on month in May, Statistics New Zealand said on Wednesday - following the 0.8 percent gain in April.


Fruit and vegetable prices rose 8.2 percent on month, while meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 2.3 percent.


Seasonally adjusted, food prices gained 1.6 percent on month.


On a yearly basis, prices were up 3.1 percent.


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Tech Stocks’ Rebound Sends Wall Street to Close at Records





The Dow and the S&P 500 notched fresh record highs as technology shares regained footing following two days of selloff. But investors are now setting their sights on an expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike after the central bank's two-day June policy meeting.


Tech shares were hit by sell offs on Monday, extending from a downturn at the end of last week and dragging broader index particularly the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 tech sector regained footing and rebounded by 0.9 percent after its biggest two-day losing streak in almost a year. Microsoft and Facebook led the index higher.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 92.80 points or 0.4 percent to end at 21, 328.47 after hitting a historic intraday peak of 21, 332.77. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index advanced by 10.96 points to end at 2,440.35, also entering record territory, bolstered by materials and IT sectors.


The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 44.90 points or 0.7 percent to close at 6,220.37.


Analysts said that with regards to the Fed meeting, investors had already priced in a rate-hike and is seen to have little impact to the market. Investors are also confident with the concept that the Fed will continue to be cautious to ensure that the higher rates will not slow down growth.


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New Zealand Reports Stable Q1 Economic Growth Despite Slowdown in Building Activity





The New Zealand economic growth accelerated slightly on a sequential basis in the first quarter of this year. GDP grew 0.5 percent after rising 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, showed Statistics New Zealand.


"Much lower building activity combined with mixed results for the service sector took the shine off higher dairy production and saw a second quarter of moderate overall GDP growth. At an industry level, 11 out of 16 industries increased this quarter, with agriculture and retail trade having the biggest increases, while construction was significantly down,” said national accounts senior manager Gary Dunnet.


Construction dropped 2.1 percent, with all building sectors indicating a decline. Non-residential building construction, declining from a recent peak, was the important driver. This was also reflected with declining investment in both residential and non-residential building construction.


Service industries activity came in mixed, rising 0.4 percent in the first quarter. Retail trade and accommodation mainly drove the service growth. On the contrary, postal, transport and warehousing and rental hiring and real-estate services dropped.


Household spending rebounded in the first quarter, growing 1.3 percent. This shows solid growth in retail trade. This rise added to the year-on-year growth rate of 4.7 percent, the largest rise in household spending in more than a decade. Meanwhile, net exports dropped in the March quarter. Exports of goods and services dropped 0.4 percent, while imports of goods and services were up 1.3 percent.


On a year-on-year basis, the GDP growth of New Zealand came in at 3 percent.


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U.S. Bank Shares Regain Footing after Earlier Retreat





Shares of U.S. lenders rebounded in New York afternoon trading after being hit by weak retail sales and inflation data released earlier in the day, causing investors to flock to the more defensive areas in the equity market.


The broader financial sector of the S&P 500 index slid 0.6 percent before regaining footing later in the session, ending 0.2 percent up. The KBW index, which monitors both regional and national banks, slid 1.2 percent to 93.19 at one point but finished 0.1 percent up at 94.44.


The S&P financial sector has followed suit of the broader index but jitters surrounding the Federal Reserve's decision to hike rates, along with fresh details regarding the central bank's plan to shrink its balance sheet, caused it to end 0.1 percent down at 2,437, regardless of gains 0.6 percent of the utilities sector.


Energy companies' shares also struggled during the session, with S&P 500's energy sector sliding 1.8 percent after a 3.5 percent drop in the price of the international benchmark brent to $47.02 per barrel.


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Fxwirepro: Usd/jpy Hits Fresh 2-Week High at 111.14 Mark, Markets Await Boj’s Policy Rate Decision





USD/JPY is currently trading around 111.03 marks.


It made intraday high at 111.14 and low at 110.81 levels.


Intraday bias remains neutral for the moment.


A daily close above 110.94 will take the parity higher towards key resistances a111.84, 112.62, 113.79, 114.88, 115.50, 117.21, 118.18, 118.66, 119.52 and 120.46 levels respectively.


On the other side, a sustained close below 110.94 will drag the parity down towards key supports around 109.27, 108.32, 106.72, 106.03 and 104.96 levels respectively.


BOJ will release latest monetary policy statement and policy rate today.


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Dollar Strengthens on Upbeat Data, Poised for Weekly Gains





The dollar firmed in Asian trading, bound for weekly gains versus a currency basket as positive U.S. economic data bolstered hopes by investors that the central bank will remain true to its penciled in rate hike path.


The dollar index, which monitors the greenback's performance against six of its major counterparts, rose 0.1 percent to 97.474 and has risen 0.6 percent for the week.


The U.S. dollar advanced 0.2 percent to 111.11 yen, bound for 1 percent weekly gains as investors are on the sideline ahead of a Bank of Japan meeting. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will release an update on the central bank's policy at the end of the policy meeting, during which it is widely expected that it will maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy and reiterate past assurances that it has no plans to follow the Fed's tapering plans.


The euro was stable at $1.1147, significantly shy of the seven-month high of $1.1296 hit on Wednesday. It is down 0.6 percent for the week. Meanwhile, the sterling ticked up 0.1 percent to $1.2762 after receiving a boost overnight following a divided decision from the Bank of England after its policy meeting.


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Japan Has Y203.367 Billion Trade Deficit In May





Japan had a merchandise trade deficit of 203.367 billion yen in May, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.


That missed forecasts for a surplus of 43.3 billion yen following the 481.7 billion yen surplus in April.


Exports were up 14.9 percent on year, shy of expectations for a gain of 16.0 percent following the 7.5 percent gain in the previous month.


Imports climbed an annual 17.8 percent versus expectations for 14.5 percent and up from 15.1 percent a month earlier.


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