One of the many factors used to decide whether a central bank should or should not raise interest rates is inflation, of which energy is a main contributor, and given the extended bearish trend for oil prices at present this aspect of the decision making process is likely to remain sharply in focus.
The traditional and seasonal Santa Claus rally appears to have come rather early this year, with October’s rally for the NQ Emini (QQQ, quote) recording a sensational month of gains following the equally dramatic events towards the end of August which saw the index correct sharply, before strong stopping volume duly appeared to prevent the market falling further.
As the month of October draws to a close, and with the ghouls and ghosts of Halloween preparing to frighten and alarm in equal measure, it is the trick or treaters at the
Just like the children’s board game of snakes and ladders, or as it is known in the US as chutes and ladders, coming down the snakes is always much faster than climbing back up the ladders, and so it is proving for primary equity markets in the US.
Dithering by the FED, coupled with associated weakness in the US dollar have both combined to provide gold bugs with some much needed good news in the last couple of week, with gold rising Lazarus like from its trough of despondency in the $1110 per ounce region, to positively sparkle at the $1190 per ounce.
Great expectations was a classic novel following the growth of a poor child and his trials and tribulations to find success in his life. Fabulous story.
USDCAD is showing signs of a pullback on its 1-hour time frame, as the pair bounced off the 1.2200 major psychological support area. Price is now testing resistance at the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level, which lines up with the short-term 100 SMA.
Copper, along with several of the other principal base metals fell sharply this week as a resurgent US dollar drove many commodities lower, with both gold and silver also selling off strongly. For the base metals market it was Nickel which saw the most dramatic price moves, falling over 5.5% with copper and zinc both falling over 2 %, with tin one of the few commodities closing higher.
It’s been a period of pause and reflection for equity markets, following the picture perfect price action of August, as the up elevator finally reached the next level, rolling gently over into the current phase of price congestion.
Gold has continued to remain heavily under pressure once again in today’s gold trading session, with the bears in full cry, as the precious metal moved relentlessly lower to trade at $1238.70 on the December contract at time of writing.
