All major U.S. stock indexes rose solidly to new record highs on Friday, with the rise continuing in after-hours trading as the market opened this week.
➡️ US stock markets are exuberant, with the benchmark S&P 500 index rising sharply to close at a new all-time high last Friday, as did the other major indexes, most notably the NASDAQ 100 which has been the best performing stock index of all in recent months. Trend traders will be interested in having a long position on some or all of these indexes. Historical data shows that a new record of the S&P 500 index produced an average annual return in the following year of 13%. Traders and investors hope that this precedent will remain valid also in the coming year.
➡️ Although some Asian stock markets are doing well – in particular the Nikkei 225 index which hit another 34-year high today – Chinese stocks are falling, with the HSI near 19-year low on the back of poor Chinese economic data and sentiment.
➡️ In the Forex market, the British pound has been the strongest major currency since the Tokyo open today. The Australian dollar was the weakest. Increased volatility has recently been observed in the currency pair USD/JPY .
➡️ Markets are awaiting policy meetings of the 3 major central banks this week: the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada. None of them are expected to change their interest rates, but their policy statements will be closely monitored.
➡️ Cocoa futures on Friday have reached a new multi-year high price, which will keep trend traders interested in this commodity on the long side. It has been showing a powerful bullish trend for more than a year now.
Credit by DailyForex.com
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