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Markets without optimism
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German economy stagnates
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Gold prices surge following in-line US retail sales data
This week was absolutely dominated by coronavirus updates. Although stock markets had not reflected the turmoil until Thursday, it changed as soon as the number of infections surged yesterday (after changing how the illness is diagnosed). The recent change may be particularly alarming. In fact, one may feel really puzzled about the real number of infected people. The official data confirmed that as of Friday afternoon (GMT) there have been more than 63,000 infected with 1,383 deaths worldwide. Still, the majority of cases concern mainland China where coronavirus killed more than 1,300 people.
Today markets still did not indicate any optimism. Major indices in Europe tend to fall, on the other hand one could observe some moderate gains in Asia (apart from Nikkei). The opening on Wall Street is also quite weak, however there is a chance that US major indices will not drop today as they rise a little.
EURUSD is still below the 1.0900 level, currently trading at around 1.0840. As a matter of fact today was a busy day in terms of economic data and reports. In the morning, German economy turned out to stagnate - GDP showed no growth in Q4 2019 (est. 0.1%). As far as the whole eurozone economy is concerned, it grew only 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 (est. 0.1%). In fact, that is the lowest growth in 7 years. Later investors got to know some crucial data from the US. The recent release indicated that retail sales increased by 0.3% MoM (est. 0.3%)
Following in-line US retail sales data, gold prices immediately surged, now trading at around $1,581.50 an ounce. The yellow metal also benefited from coronavirus uncertainty. As a result, some bulls may actually aim for $1,600.00 level in the near future.
The next week will bring us some crucial economic data as well. Those include flash PMIs from Europe as well as hard data from the UK, US and Japan. Central bankers will also influence the markets as FOMC, RBA and ECB will publish minutes from the latest rate meetings. Obviously one should pay attention to coronavirus updates from China.
Following in-line US retail sales data, gold prices immediately surged, now trading at around $1,581.50 an ounce. Source: xStation5
