The American Stock Market rose on Monday as investors awaited quarterly earnings reports from several of the largest American tech-related companies during the week. This week also sees the release of the American job report for October on Friday, as investors keep a close eye on political news ahead of the upcoming American presidential election which is just over a week away. The yields on the American ten-year treasury bond reached a three-month high ahead of the week’s data and election, rising during afternoon trading in the US. The broad S&P 500 index had risen by 0.3 percent at closing, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq and Dow Jones industrial indices climbing by 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
Oil prices plummeted by over 6 percent on Monday, following Israel’s retaliatory attack on Iran on Saturday that avoided oil and nuclear facilities, thus not disrupting energy supplies. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+, maintained its oil production policy unchanged last month, including a plan to begin increasing production from December. The group will meet on December 1 ahead of a full OPEC+ meeting. The US announced on Monday that they are seeking to purchase up to 3 million barrels of oil for the strategic oil reserve for delivery until May next year, meaning the government would have some funds remaining for further purchases until lawmakers approve additional funds. WTI crude oil had fallen by 4.4 dollars to 67.4 dollars per barrel at 20:35, while Brent crude had dropped by 4.1 dollars to 71.9 dollars per barrel.
Base metals declined broadly yesterday. Lead and aluminum saw the biggest declines, dropping by 0.7 percent, followed by nickel which lost 0.6 percent. Tin fell by 0.3 percent and copper retreated by 0.1 percent. Today’s winner was zinc, which advanced by 1.7 percent. Gold’s record rally took a pause on Monday as US treasury bond yields and the dollar strengthened. Meanwhile, investors await a range of American economic data to be released during the week to get clues about the interest rate outlook of the US Federal Reserve. The price of gold fell by 3.9 dollars to 2,742.7 dollars per ounce.
Among individual American stocks, tech giants Apple and Google’s parent company Alphabet rose by 0.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Oil giants had a tougher day on the stock market, with Chevron closing down by 0.2 percent. Chip giant Nvidia fell by 0.7 percent.
The American ten-year bond rose by 5 basis points to 4.29 percent.
Asian markets are trading volatilely on Tuesday morning, with the Tokyo Stock Exchange turning overnight losses into gains. The Chinese markets are absorbing yet another liquidity injection from the People’s Bank of China, aimed at supporting the financial system. An unexpected election result in Japan, the US’s most important security ally in Asia, combined with the potentially destabilizing presidential election in the US next week, could give China and other rivals an opportunity to test the resolve of the West in East Asia. Analysts suggest that China may increase intrusions into Japanese territory and intensify pressure on Taiwan, while North Korea, which has deepened its security cooperation with Russia, could intensify its ballistic missile tests. At 07:40, the Nikkei 225 had risen by 0.8 percent, while the Chinese Shanghai and Hang Seng Index had fallen by 0.8 percent and risen by 0.4 percent, respectively.
On the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Hanza reported at 07:30. The company had negative organic growth during Q3 and reported revenues of 1.107 billion Swedish Krona.
Among this morning’s recommendations, Goldman Sachs lowered its recommendation for ABB to neutral from buy and set the target price at 52 Swiss Francs. Pareto Securities lowered Traton’s target price to 460 Kronor (from 470) but reiterated its buy recommendation. Volvo Cars’ target price was lowered to 21 Kronor (from 24) by Goldman Sachs, which reiterated a sell recommendation. SEB reiterated a hold recommendation for Linc, but lowered the target price to 86 Kronor (from 100).
On the macro front, Tuesday is relatively busy. The day started at 08:00 with the announcement of Sweden’s quarterly gross domestic product for Q3, which decreased by 0.1 percent. At the same time, Swedish retail sales figures were released, also down by 0.1 percent. At 13:30, the American trade balance for goods will be announced, followed by the country’s consumer confidence at 15:00.