Daily Summary: WTI crude oil close to the highest levels this year, NFP data drives the markets!

The macro event of the day was the NFP reading from the USA. The data for July showed a lower-than-expected market increase in non-farm employment at the level of 187 thousand. The market expected that employment would increase by 200 thousand compared to the last reading at the level of 209 thousand (the scenario resulting from the ADP data was not fulfilled). The reading also brought an unexpected decrease in unemployment and an even larger increase in average wages in the USA.

Similar labor market data was also obtained in Canada, where the data showed a real decrease in employment by 6.4 thousand jobs compared to the expected increase at the level of 25 thousand jobs. However, as was the case in the USA, wages also strongly surprised upwards.

In the Eurozone, attention was drawn towards very good data on factory orders from Germany, where the data showed a month-over-month increase of 7% against a forecasted decrease at the level of 2%.

As for individual companies that attract the most attention from investors, these are primarily Apple (AAPL.US) and Amazon (AMZN.US), which after their quarterly results recorded the following price changes (-3.19% and +10.3%).

Fortinet (FTNT.US) shares fell 22.50% during today's market session after the company published its financial results for the second quarter of 2023. Despite the sharp decline in shares, the financial results showed impressive growth in several areas. However, the market reaction is mainly related to transaction delays, lower full-year forecasts, and macroeconomic risk.

In the FX market, the Australian dollar and the euro are performing best today. The biggest declines in the broad market are recorded by the US dollar and the Canadian dollar. The EURUSD pair is back above the 1.1030 barrier.

Energy commodities are recording significant gains, and WTI crude oil is up 1.5%, approaching annual highs at the level of 83.54 USD per barrel.

Due to the weakness of the dollar, gold is regaining its luster, returning above the level of 1941 USD, and TNOTY, which is gaining more than 0.7% on the day.