Commodities-Futures/Forex-Gold-Market Movers-News-Tech

Wondering What’s Happening in the Financial Markets Today? Take a Look at These 34 Stories!

Published on May 18, 2017 at 12:27 pm by Insider Monkey Staff in Commodities, Futures/Forex, Gold, Market Movers, News, Tech

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1. U.S. Stock Market:

“Stocks rose on Wall Street on Thursday, capping a wave of declines in major world equity markets triggered by uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda, with the U.S. dollar also recovering slightly after five days of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 21.16 points, or 0.1 percent, to 20,628.09, the S&P 500 gained 4.9 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,361.93 and the Nasdaq Composite added 29.25 points, or 0.49 percent, to 6,040.49.”

(Reuters)

“U.S. stocks traded higher on Thursday, recovering from their worst day of 2017, as investors assessed President Donald Trump’s chances of moving forward with his pro-growth agenda. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 140 points after a lower open, with UnitedHealth contributing the most gains. Cisco Systems, though, fell 7.3 percent after the company issued weak guidance. The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent, with telecommunications advancing 1.7 percent to lead advancers. The Nasdaq composite outperformed, gaining 0.98 percent.”

(CNBC)

“U.S. stocks Thursday afternoon traded firmly higher, with the Dow up by more than 100 points, following the previous session’s brutal selloff, as positive data offered a glimmer of optimism and technology provided an additional fillip to the market. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.82% COMP, +0.82% was up 51 points, or 0.9%, at 6,062, after briefly losing its grip on the psychologically significant level of 6,000 in opening trade. he Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.46% was up 109 points, or 0.5%, at 20,715, led higher by shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT, +3.06% which climbed 2.9% as earnings beat Wall Street forecasts, but revenue fell slightly short. The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.55% rose 14 points, or 0.6%, to 2,371, as all 11 sectors traded higher with the telecom, consumer-discretionary and health-care sectors leading the charge.”

(Market Watch)

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2. U.S. Bond Market:

“U.S. Treasury yields fell on Thursday as investors worried that allegations against U.S. President Donald Trump would divert lawmakers from tax cuts and fiscal spending that they had hoped would boost growth. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes fell to one-month lows of 2.18 percent on strong buying overnight after Reuters reported that Michael Flynn and other advisers to Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race.”

(Reuters)

“The U.S. Treasuries rallied on expectations of a rise in the country’s initial jobless claims, scheduled to be released later in the day. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury slumped 2 basis points to 2.19 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields fell nearly 1 basis point to 2.88 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year note also traded 1 basis point lower at 1.24 percent.”

(EconoTimes)

“Nevertheless, Treasurys caught a bid as investors sought safety, building in gains made on Wednesday’s session. The benchmark 10-year note yield fell to 2.2034 percent and the short-term two-year note yield dropped to 1.24 percent. Treasurys staged their second-biggest rally of the year Wednesday, as expectations faded that Trump can get tax reform or fiscal stimulus through Congress this year, or maybe even next year.”

(CNBC)

3. FX Markets:

“The dollar fell to fresh three-week lows against the yen on Thursday and was stuck near six month lows against a currency basket as concerns over the future of Donald Trump’s presidency mounted. The dollar fell to fresh three-week lows against the safe haven yen, with USD/JPY down 0.35% to 110.43 having ended the previous session down 2.03%, the largest one day decline since July 29, 2016. The euro was slightly lower, with EUR/USD slipping 0.25% to 1.1129 after rising to six-month peaks of 1.1172 earlier. Meanwhile, sterling rose above the $1.30 level for the first time since September on Thursday after data showing that UK retail sales notched up their biggest gain since January 2016 last month.”

(Investing.com)

“The pound on Thursday rose above $1.30 for the first time since September following a better-than-expected reading on U.K. retail sales, as the dollar largely continued to lose ground against its major rivals. The British currency GBPUSD, +0.4086% was changing hands at $1.3035, up from $1.2971 late Wednesday in New York. It traded as high as $1.3046 intraday after data showed U.K. retail sales grew by 2.3% on the month in April, well above expectations. In other currencies trading, the euro EURUSD, -0.3674% was at $1.1121, down from $1.1159 late Wednesday in New York, while the dollar USDJPY, +0.23% bought 110.49 yen, down from 110.81 yen.”

(Market Watch)

4. Commodities:

“Oil prices pulled back on Thursday, paring gains after the U.S. reported mixed data showing the pace of inventory falls slowed, triggering worries that the supply overhang would last for longer. A fall in production, however, helped underpin prices. After settling on Wednesday at their highest levels in nearly a month, Brent crudeLCON7, -0.21%, the global oil benchmark, fell 93 cents, or 1.8%, to $51.29 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures CLM7, -0.37% were trading down 85 cents, or 1.7%, to $48.22 a barrel.”

(Market Watch)

“The gold market is seeing modest profit taking following strong than expected manufacturing data within the Philadelphia region. The index for current general activity in the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing business outlook survey surged higher in May to a reading of 38.8, up from April’s reading of 22, the regional central bank reported Thursday. The consensus expectations compiled by various news organizations were for a reading of around 19.9. “This month, the index recovered some of the declines of the previous two months, but it still remains slightly below its high reading of 43.3 in February,” the report said. In reaction to the data, gold prices are down slightly from their two-week highs hit overnight. June Comex gold futures last traded at $1,260.20 up 0.12% on the day.”

(Kitco News)

“Oil prices pulled back on Thursday, paring gains after the U.S. reported mixed data showing the pace of inventory falls slowed, triggering worries that the supply overhang would last for longer. A fall in production, however, helped underpin prices. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.2% to $51.59 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 1.2% at $48.49 a barrel.”

(Fox Business)

5. Market Movers:

Ascena Retail Group Inc (NASDAQ:ASNA) shares crashed as much as 43% on Thursday after the company gave a grave warning to investors yesterday. For its fiscal third quarter, Ascena said in a statement that it expects a same-store sales decline of 8%, compared to the 4.8% slip analysts surveyed at Factset were expecting. The company said for the full year, it anticipates its comparable store sales to drop 6% to 7%. Ascena also revised its third-quarter earnings outlook down to 4 cents to 6 cents a share for the third quarter, a far cry from its earlier guidance of 7 cents to 12 cents. The company expects to generate earnings of 10 cents to 15 cents a share for the full year.

(TheStreet)