With a lack of market triggers, the major indices ended Monday relatively flat, beginning the week on a very uneventful note. This is rather expected following volatile conditions over the past few weeks. This is not unusual as the market does go through periods where, despite volatility and prices moving, the fundamental aspect of the trading world is relatively quiet.
At this point, many are familiar with what’s coming next in terms of monetary policy changes. Major central banks are in an invisible race to taper and hike rates, a move aimed at fending off the very sharp rise in inflation. The latest to report was the Fed who is also on the way to doing this.
The Dow Jones ended 0.04% lower and closed at 36,087.45 while the S&P 500 was flat at 4,682.80. The Nasdaq also finished slightly lower, off by 0.04%, and closed at 15,853.85.
Quarterly earnings remain in play with Walmart set to release on Tuesday while Nvidia and Target comes out with their numbers on Wednesday. Later in the week, Ali Baba and Macy’s are among the retailers to release numbers on Thursday.
Beyond US markets, the Dollar benefited from a strong up-move that began late last week and continued yesterday. The currency benchmark moved from a low just under 94.00 to a high around the mid 95.00s and posted gains of over 1.8%. This saw the Euro trading lower and breaking the 1.1400 area while the British Pound dipped below 1.3500.
Commodities also jumped higher with Gold moving from the low 1800s to current prices around the 1870s area. This was not the case for Oil which actually corrected from the mid 80s as it continues to consolidates between the 85 and the 79 area.
Cryptocurrencies went into sell-off mode as Bitcoin dipped form the 65,000 area to a low around the 58,000 zone. Ethereum was not so lucky either and approached the 4,000 area after trading close to 4,900.
On a different note, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, sold around $7 billion in Tesla stock, helping fuel a sell-off that saw the stock finish the week down around 15.4%.
With CFI, you can trade thousands of CFDs on Stocks, Forex, Commodities, Indices, and ETFs from one single platform. If you are new to the financial markets, you can start with a risk-free demo account and for the more seasoned traders, opening a real account is a straightforward process that requires very little time. CFI offers its clients many services and features including free daily webinars, dedicated account managers, daily technical reports, and highly competitive conditions that include fast execution and spreads from zero pips.
Click here to find out more.
The content published above has been prepared by CFI for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. Any view expressed does not constitute a personal recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell. The information provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation, and needs of any specific person who may receive it, and is not held out as independent investment research and may have been acted upon by persons connected with CFI. Market data is derived from independent sources believed to be reliable, however, CFI makes no guarantee of its accuracy or completeness, and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of its use by recipients.