- Bank stocks retreat on Archegos Capital default
- Traffic in Suez Canal resumes
Most of the European indices finished today's session slightly higher despite the ongoing uncertainties regarding the third wave of the pandemic. Yesterday German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged state officials to put more efforts to curb rising coronavirus infections which weighed on mining, oil, travel and leisure stocks. Meanwhile French government warned that hospitals could be soon overwhelmed due to the rising number of new infections. DAX 30 rose 0.47% and reached an all-time high of 14,818 pts, CAC 40 gained 0.45% and FTSE100 fell 0.07%.
US stocks are swinging between gains and losses amid weakness in bank shares. Nomura and Credit Suisse both warned of substantial losses after the US hedge fund, Archegos Capital Management, defaulted on margin calls and was forced to liquidate more than $20 billion of positions linked to the firm's roiled stocks. This put pressure on some major US media and Chinese tech companies. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up to a one-week high of 1.69% on Monday, but remained below 14-month highs of 1.75% reached early in the month.
WTI crude rose 0.6% and is trading slightly below $61.40 a barrel, while Brent is trading 0.25% higher around $64.70 a barrel as the giant container ship blocking the Suez Canal, the Ever Given, has been refloated and is on the move again. Elsewhere gold dropped more than 1.0% to $ 1,713.00 / oz, while silver is trading 1.3 % lower near $ 24.70 / oz amid stronger dollar.
GOLD – on Friday buyers failed to break above the resistance at $1740.00 which coincides with 50 SMA (green line) and lower limit of the descending channel. Today gold fell below important support at $1715.00. If the current sentiment prevails downward move could be extended to the psychological $1700.00 support or even $1681.00 handle where March lows are located. However, if buyers will manage to regain control then upward impulse towards aforementioned 50 SMA could be launched. Source: xStation5
