Stronger than expected jobs report

HIGHLIGHTS

After Friday’s stronger than expected jobs report, both S&P and the NASDAQ index surged to new highs. With the market expecting the creation of 80K jobs for the month of October but got a higher 128K figure. Even the actual numbers for the months of August and September were revised upwards. On top of this, trade negotiations between China and the US were progressing well reaching a consensus in principle on “phase one “agreement. On the earnings front, 76% of S&P companies have beaten profit expectations. Brent and WTI crude rallied 3% on easing trade tensions as well.  Now we will have to see if the DOW can break their all-time highs over the next few days.

DOW - up 17.2 %  YTD

S&P - up 22.3 %   YTD

NASDAQ - up  26.4 % YTD 

HEADS UP

AUD: Australian Cash Rate Target

USD: ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite

NZD: Unemployment Rate

GBP: UK Sovereign Debt rated by Moody’s

GBP: BOE Bank Rate

CNY: China New Yuan Loans

USD: U.of Michigan Sentiment

DAILY FEEDS

GOLD:

Gold slowly climb last week from a weak Wednesday to 1514 on Friday. Despite a strong session in the stock market which should have pushed gold down, it held its gains mirroring a strong Crude oil price and a weaker dollar.

EUR:

Euro tried to rally and get above the 1.12 mark but has failed to touch that figure even if the US dollar was still slightly soft. Technically, Euro is still on a downward channel and ECB  likely to maintain their easing tenor.

YEN:

USDJPY finished lower last week after the Fed decided to lower their interest rate by 25 bps. But following the Fed, BOJ decided to pause on their monetary stance but introduced forward guidance committing that they will continue to maintain ultra-low interest rate.

AUD:

AUD has been on a slow climb from late October to the current rate of 0.6915. RBA is expected to pause this Tuesday and keep the rate at 0.75%. Retail Sales came out weak at 0.2% which was half the estimated figure. Property prices in Sydney and Melbourne have come back to life after the interest rate was cut to 0.75%. But more work needs to be done before we see a reversal in AUD to get back above the 0.72 marks.

BITCOIN:

After a surge in bitcoin prices last 25^th of October to almost $10,000 level, bitcoin decided to pause and play around 9,000 to 9,400. The support level of BTC is at 8,900 marks with resistance at 9,400.