Market Kicks off Big Week on Front Foot – Dow Closed up 1.5%.
Global financial markets are set to kick off the week on the front foot today after a strong finish to the week on Wall Street on Friday. The PCE Price Index came in largely on expectations on Friday and markets, that had been worried about another strong inflation print, reacted well. The Dow had a stellar day, recording its highest one-day gain in 2024 to finish up 1.5%, the S&P also jumped 0.8% whilst the Nasdaq dropped 0.01%. The dollar dropped, with the DXY falling 0.4% on the day to 104.36, whilst US treasury yields also lost ground, the 2-year losing 1.7 basis points to 4.912% and the 10-year off 4.6 basis points to 4.508%. Oil slid on Friday ahead of this weekends OPEC where the group confirmed extended production cuts, Brent now around $81.75 a barrel and WTI $77.10 a barrel. Gold experienced a whippy day, capping out just under $2,360 before ultimately settling lower around $2,328 per ounce.
Big US Data Week Ahead for Investors
It is a big data week ahead in the states this week and investors will be hoping for more confirmation of a ‘soft landing’ yet dovish environment ahead. Friday’s PCE numbers did help this narrative, but many investors are aware that we could be in a different place by the end of this week after no less than four fresh jobs markets updates as well sets of PMI numbers. There were further warnings on Friday that the landing may not be as soft as many hope, as another tech firm took a beating in the market, this time Dell dropped nearly 20%, this coming on the back of similar loss for Salesforce earlier in the week as forecasts came in well below expectations. These kinds of updates are starting to concern investors and a good week of data will go a long way to reassure markets, but any hiccups along the way could see volatility increase and pain start to pick up.
Quiet Monday Ahead of a Lively Week
We have already seen a bit of volatility in Oil prices this morning after OPEC confirmed production cuts over the weekend, with both Brent and WTI rallying slightly on the news. There is little on the event calendar in the first two sessions of the day, and in general traders are expecting the positive momentum from Friday’s strong close on Wall Street to follow through. The New York session does see that start of a busy week for US data however with the release of both the Final Manufacturing PMI number and the ISM Manufacturing PMI data with expectations for a 50.9 and 49.8 print respectively. US Construction spending data is also due out but expect the PMI data to dominate any changes in market sentiment.
