USD falls further on ISM miss; US stocks add to recent gains

Summary:

• Buck falls further as ISM misses forecasts

• US500 moves up to highest level since Fed meeting

• Tesla shares gain on China factory breakthrough

• Technical overview: DE30

• Founder of Bitcoin among the most powerful individuals in 2018

The main economic release of the day has shown a larger than expected slowdown in the US service sector according to the latest industry survey, with the news doing little for the greenback was already trading in the red ahead of the release. The ISM non-manufacturing PMI for December fell to 57.6 from 60.7, below the consensus forecast of 59.0. While this is a disappointing result, the decline is still far less severe than the one seen in the manufacturing equivalent last Thursday and even though it is suggestive of a slowing in activity it is not quite as worrisome as last week’s number.

After a slow start there’s been a push higher in stocks into the European cash close with the US500 taking out recent highs around 2552 and trading at levels not seen since last month’s Fed decision. All 4 US indices are firmly in the green at the time of writing with the US 100 back above the 6500 level. The gains seen across the Atlantic are providing a boost to markets closer to home with the UK100 and DE30 both trying to ride higher on the back of the bid in the US.

One stock that is in the US100 and gathering some attention this afternoon is Tesla, with the automaker’s share price called to open higher by around 1.5% after it announced a breakthrough on a new factory in China. CEO Elon Musk and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong celebrated earlier today after the electric car marker unveiled their first non-US factory. Tesla has held up relatively well in the broader market rout in recent months and ended Friday around the middle of its recent range from 245-390 with a solid gain in the region of 5% and is higher once more today, rising by a further 4%.

As far as the technical situation on the DE30 goes, the situation on the German stock market in the long-term perspective looks very interesting. Dax (DE30) rebounded off the 10300-10400 pts support area marked by 61.8% Fibo level of the major upward impulse started in the end of 2014. Friday’s surge was impressive but when we take a look at weekly frame the recovery can be barely noticed. Moreover, descending 50-, 100- and 200-period moving averages hint a prevailing bears’ dominance in the upcoming future.

Major cryptocurrencies have begun today’s trading rather calmly. However it needs to be said that Bitcoin went up to around $3950 yesterday. The capitalization of the whole cryptocurrency market stands around the $138 billion handle while Bitcoin accounts for roughly 51.5%. Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous founder of the largest cryptocurrency, was named by Worth.com as one of the most powerful individuals in global finance of 2018. More precisely, the founder of Bitcoin took a 44th place in a ranking. It is worth noticing that well-known figures such as Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) and Paul Krugman (Nobel Prize winner in Economics) took further places in the Worth.com’s ranking. On the other hand, other people related to a crypto sector were also seen in the ranking. Blythe Masters, the former CEO of Digital Asset Holdings (a blockchain development company) was tookt 27th place, and Kelly Loeffler, the CEO of Bakkt (a ICE’s bitcoin futures platform) a 72nd place.