In today’s session, once again the bullishness dominated the stock market. In Europe, the focus was on the German DAX, which hit an all-time high. On the other side of the world, the Japanese Nikkei broke its previous record. Wall Street was not far behind, with the NASDAQ rising more than 1.2% on McCarthy’s assurance that the uncertainty surrounding the US debt limit would be resolved soon. However, the scale of the rallies reduced in the second half of the session.
Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the Republican Party in the US House of Representatives, announced ongoing talks on spending cuts and raising the debt ceiling. The decision on this is expected to come next week. McCarthy said the current state of the talks is much better than it was just a week ago.
A banker at the Federal Reserve (Fed), Laurie K. Logan said in a speech that current macroeconomic data does not support keeping interest rates unchanged in the United States.
James Bullard, also of the Fed, commented that he favors future interest rate hikes in the United States, stressing that higher rates generally serve as a good hedge against inflation.
Initial jobless claims are halting the recent uptrend. Additionally, the number of consecutive jobless claims fell below 1.8 million for the first time since the first week of March.
America’s largest retailer Walmart beat Wall Street’s expectations in the first quarter on both earnings per share and revenue. Although actual retail sales have decreased compared to the previous year, the company’s stores remain very popular due to their competitive prices compared to their competitors. Walmart also raised its full-year revenue forecast, but noted that consumer strength markedly deteriorated at the end of the quarter, raising concerns about the state of the economy in the second half of the year.
NATGAS (Natural Gas) rose more than 8% following low US inventory levels. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported injections of 99 billion cubic feet of natural gas into storage, as opposed to an expected level of 110 billion. The result deviated significantly from the median predictions.
In the forex market, the US dollar continues to outperform other currencies, maintaining its dominant position. The New Zealand Dollar and the Swiss Franc are currently under the most pressure.
Gold is down more than 1.3% and is near the psychological support level of around $1,950 an ounce. The strong dollar pressure continues to affect gold prices.
The cryptocurrency market extended its downtrend, with bitcoin shedding over 2% at the time of writing, falling towards the support level of $26,700 USD.
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