EQUITIES
With higher oil prices pushing up energy stocks, the major stock indexes closed higher on Thursday. Major benchmark closes as follow:
S&P 500 Index : $2,526.90, gain 56.40 points or 2.28%
Dow Jones Industrial Average : $21,413.44, gain 469.93 points or 2.24%%
Nasdaq Composite Index : $7,487.31, gain 126.73 points or 1.72%
All other exchanges also recording gains, with London's FTSE 100 up 0.47%, Germany's DAX up 0.27% and France's CAC 40 gains 0.33%. Italy's closed 1.75% higher and pan-European Stoxx 600 index gains 0.42% closed Thursday.
Asian markets are still finding their footing in early trade. Japan's Nikkei 225, South Korea’s KOSPI, Malaysia’s Bursa are each recording gain of 0.83%, 0.51% and 2.00% respectively. Other indices including Hong Kong's Hang Seng recording loss of -0.38%, %, China's Shanghai Composite was down -0.23%, SENSEX down -4.08%, Singapore’s down -0.29%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed -0.24% in early trading.
OIL
Oil prices skyrocketed on Thursday. WTI surged 24.67% to settle at $25.32 per barrel, its largest 1-day percentage gain in history. Brent jumped 21.02% to settle at $29.94 per barrel, in what was also its best day on record.
Currently, WTI is trading at $24.22 per barrel and Brent is trading at $29.15 per barrel, as of writing time (UTC+08.00).
CURRENCIES
DXY gave up some of its recent gains on Thursday after jump in oil prices boosted commodity-linked currencies, closed at 100.10 and stand at 100.18 latest.
Dollar traded higher against other major currencies in early trade. Rose against NOK (0.57%), SEK (0.20%), MXN (0.17%), CAD (0.16%), RUB (0.13%), NZD (0.12%), EUR (0.1%), GBP (0.06%), DKK (0.05%), and JPY (0.02%).
U.S. dollar also drops against some other currencies, including AUD (-0.04%), SGD (-0.03%), CHF (-0.02%), and CNY (0.01%) at latest reading.
GOLD
Gold currently trading at $1,612.30 per ounce, while stands around $1,634.0 per ounce for gold futures of writing time. Previously closed at 1,610.2 and 1,637.7 respectively.
Silver trading at $14.48, platinum trading at $727.00 and palladium trading at $2,140.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
U.S. stocks end the day in positive territory after a wild session where investors digested a historic jobless claims report and a 24% spike in oil prices.
U.S. Labor Department’s report showed 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, adding to the 3.3 million the week prior, each a new record at the time. Combined, those 10 million claimants make up about half of the 25 million nonfarm payrolls created since February 2010.
President’s influence - Oil prices rose more than $5 dollar at one point, following a tweet from President Donald Trump stating that Russia and Saudi Arabia may cut oil production.
Donalt J. Trup Tweeted at 10:32PM, Apr 2,2020:
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with president Putin of Russia, & I Expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!
Reported COVID-19 cases around the world surpassed 1,015,000 latest, doubling in a week as the virus spreads across Europe and North America and establishes a toehold in Africa, affecting 204 countries and territories around the world, recording more than 54,000 fatality globally.
Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with president Putin of Russia, & I Expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!
Reported COVID-19 cases around the world surpassed 1,015,000 latest, doubling in a week as the virus spreads across Europe and North America and establishes a toehold in Africa, affecting 204 countries and territories around the world, recording more than 54,000 fatality globally.
TECHNICAL OUTLOOK
[EURUSD]
Using Elliott Wave Theory, the pair is expected to climb back to a new resistance which is at $1.097.
However, in a case where the pair continue to drop, the last support is expected at last week’s low.
