Daily Analysis – Commodities Rally, Global Equities Mixed

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By BinaryOptionStrategy.com
Equities

Asian markets mostly rose on Monday, buoyed by optimism following Friday’s strong US jobs report. Leading the region, the Hang Seng rallied 1.5%, while the Nikkei rose just .1%, unable to hold on to sizable early gains. The Kospi slipped .25% after hitting a new record high earlier in the day.

In Europe, stocks rallied early on merger news, but surrendered those gains late in the day. The FTSE ended up 7 points to 6117, while the CAC40 fell .3%. Chemical companies rallied 1.2% on news that Solvay made an offer to takeover Rhodia, sending Rhosia shares up 48%.

US markets traded in very narrow ranges. The Dow rose 23 points to 12400, its highest close in years, while the Nasdaq and S&P closed flat.

Omnivision Technologies slumped 7.4% on rumors that Apple may use Sony components in its camera phones, in place of those previously supplied by Omnivision. Semiconductors stocks as a whole fell, with AMD down 3%, and Nvidia down 3.6%.

Treasuries and Commodities

Bonds rose modestly, with 10-year notes adding 5/32 to yield 3.42%, and 30-year notes rising 4/32 to yield 4.48%.T

US crude rose .5% to 108.48, and Brent Crude jumped 1.9% to 120.92. Natural gas continues to struggle, dropping 1.8% to 4.285. Gold gained $5.30 to 1434.20, while silver surged 2.1% to close at 38.52, its highest close in 31 years.

apr-5-silver.png

Silver Continues to Rally

Copper closed down .2% to 4.2515. Copper’s stubborn refusal to rally implies that traders are buying commodities primarily as an inflation hedge, rather than a bet on global economic growth.

Wheat jumped 4% and corn rallied 3.3% as agricultural futures continue to rally.

Currencies

Currencies traded in narrow ranges, consolidating after Friday’s volatile session. The Canadian dollar slipped .4% to .9672, reversing from a multi-year high of .9614 earlier in the day. Similarly, the Australian dollar closed down .2% to 1.0362, after hitting a new record high of 1.0418.

The Euro, Pound, and Yen closed within .1% of their Friday closing prices.

Economic Outlook

A budget battle in Washington threatens to shut down the government at the end of the week. A deal may introduce cost cutting measures which could impact the economy and currency markets.

The ECB is expected to raise rates on Thursday, and the Bank of Japan will hold a meeting on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s reports will include the ISM non-manufacturing index, and the FOMC minutes.
 
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