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Trump approves TikTok deal, Powell & Superdry earnings

MARKETS

The Dow Jones fell on Friday as investors had to contend with another selloff in big tech, led by Google. Friday moves came as four major types of options contracts were set to expire in a quadruple witching, triggering a rise in volatility. European equities were down around half a per cent.

The dollar closed the week lower following two weeks of gains not so much in response to the Fed but amid rising fears of a US election without a clear result in five weeks time. Gold edged up for a second week but remains rangebound while oil came back strong thanks to tough talk from OPEC+ on better compliance to output cuts.

DAY AHEAD

For the day ahead there is the reaction to President Donald Trump approving the TikTok Oracle deal, a speech from Jay Powell and earnings from Superdry.

The theme over the last three weeks has been the sell-off in tech stocks and a small part of that has had to do with the move by Trump against Chinese social media company TikTok and any possible tit-for-tat moves by China against US tech. Trump signing off on the deal with Oracle could provide some sort of lift to markets after a down-day on Friday.

Federal Reserve Chair Powell and governors Brainard and Williams all give speeches on Monday in what is likey going to be the biggest influence on FX markets in a quiet day on the economic calendar. The aim will presumably be to set the messaging straight from last week’s Fed meeting, where the general conclusion from markets seemed to be that the Fed was dovish as least in contrast to the other central banks. The dollar index dropped last week after two weeks of gains.

Superdry will report full year results in what has clearly been a very tough second half of their fiscal year. The UK clothing retailer was already facing the uncertainty of a board room revolt against founder Julian Dunkerton last year. The good news is that its medium term finances are in order after agreeing a new £70m debt facility until Jan 2023. Now the company will just need to show it has a plan to come out the other side of COVID-19 that one would hope heavily leans on its e-commerce business to make up the deficit if stores have to close again.

14-12-2020

GBP jumps on Brexit talks extension
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10-12-2020

AirBnB IPO today
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9-12-2020

S&P 500 closes over 3,700
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8-12-2020

Global stock market cap reaches $100 trillion for 1st time
The value of all the stocks in the world put together has reached a giant $100 trillion for the first time. MARKETSThe Dow fell 0.69% Monday, led by Intel and broad-based weakness in value stocks as rising Covid-19 restrictions offset optimism over an imminen… Read more

4-12-2020

Pfizer vaccine supply chain problems
MARKETS The S&P 500 fell slightly from record high. Major U.S stocks indices cut gains quickly in the final hour of trading after Dow Jones reported Pfizer now expects to ship half of the doses it had previously planned this year after finding raw materia… Read more

2-12-2020

Dollar Purge Continues
The US dollar dropped to fresh two-and-a-half year lows on Tuesday, with EUR/USD rising above the widely-watched 1.20 handle. MARKETSNews• Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday morning trade after major indexes on Wall Street surged to record highs o… Read more

1-12-2020

Bitcoin hits record high
The price of Bitcoin climbed 8.7% on Monday to reach a fresh record high of $19,857.03 - overtaking its previous peak made in 2017. MARKETSNews• Asia stocks rise as the Caixin/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for November came in at 54.9 — its… Read more

30-11-2020

OPEC meeting starts
Today OPEC+ begin a 2-day meeting to decide whether to begin producing an extra 2 million barrels per day of oil, or delay for another 3-6 months. MARKETSNews• Asia-Pacific markets are mixed this morning while S&P 500 futures are down half a per cent. Ind… Read more