- European equities extended yesterday gains
- Dow Jones hovers near record high
- Oil prices continue to move lower
Most of the European indices extended yesterday's gains and finished today's session higher, boosted by solid quarterly figures from top heavyweight companies. Both Societe Generale and Standard Chartered posted strong quarterly profits. Meanwhile BP quarterly profit topped analysts’ estimates and the company announced it will increase its dividend by 4% and ramp up share buybacks. So far 66% of more than half of the STOXX 600 companies reported better than expected profits according to data from Refinitiv IBES. DAX 30 fell 0.09% CAC 40 gained 0.72% and FTSE100 finished 0.34% lower.
US indices managed to regain ground in the afternoon after weak start of the session. Dow Jones rose nearly 0.6% and is approaching it's all-time high. The S&P 500 jumped more than 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite is trading 0.3% higher as investors welcomed solid corporate earnings which offset concerns regarding spread of the new Covid-19 strain. DuPont beat on both profit and sales, and Under Armour earnings beat market estimates. Overall, earnings at S&P 500 firms are now estimated to have climbed about 90% in the second quarter versus forecasts of 65.4% at the start of July, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The 10-year Treasury yield is trading near 1.18%, after falling back to near 5-month lows during yesterday's session. On the data front, factory orders in the US rose 1.5% in June while analysts expected a 1% gain.
The dollar index dropped to 92.00 as dovish comments from Fed contrasted with relatively hawkish comments from RBA and RBNZ, which, in turn, fueled sharp gains in the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
WTI crude fell more than 1.5% and is trading slightly above $70.00 a barrel, while Brent is trading 0.77% lower around $72.33 a barrel partially due to concerns over impact of the rising number of infections on US and China’s economies. Covid-19 hospitalizations in the US jumped above 50,000 for the first time since February and in China, the government imposed fresh travel restrictions. Elsewhere gold fell 0.15% and is trading slightly above $ 1,810.00 / oz, while silver is trading 0.40 % higher, around $ 25.50 / oz.
Bitcoin price rose sharply last week however buyers failed to break above resistance at $42,465 and price pulled back. During today’s session bitcoin broke below the local support at $38,500 which coincides with 50 SMA (green line) and lower limit of the 1:1 structure. If the current sentiment prevails, then downward move may accelerate towards the major support zone around $36,500. Source: xStation5
