CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Fri Sep 27th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, +0.13%, 99.17
USDJPY, -0.02%, $107.75
EURUSD, -0.19%, $1.0922
GBPUSD, -0.18%, $1.2328
USDCAD, +0.01%, $1.3269
AUDUSD, +0.03%, $0.6753
NZDUSD, +0.40%, $0.6298
U.S. initial claims for the week ending September 21 increased by 3,000 to 213,000 (consensus 212,000). Continuing claims for the week ending September 14 decreased by 15,000 to 1.650 million. The advance report for international trade in goods showed a slight widening in the deficit to -$72.8 billion in August from -$72.5 billion.
In U.S. politics, the whistleblower complaint that kicked off Trump’s Ukraine controversy was released yesterday. In it, the whistleblower alleges that Trump abused his office to solicit assistance from a foreign country in the 2020 election and that White House officials participated in a cover-up to keep the Ukraine call from being made public. Trump said: “I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart?”
U.S. Treasuries finished higher, pushing yields lower in a curve-flattening trade. The 2-yr yield declined two basis points to 1.65%, and the 10-yr yield declined five basis points to 1.69%. The U.S. Dollar Index held firm, increasing 0.13% to 99.17.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, -0.24%, 2,977.62
Nasdaq, -0.58%, 8,030.66
Nikkei Futures, +0.67%, 21,945.0
S&P 500 lost 0.24% on Thursday in an indecisive session. Economic data continued to depict a decent U.S. economy, but a headline-heavy day helped keep some buyers sidelined. The communication services sector (-0.8%) was another laggard, largely due to weakness in Facebook (FB 180.11, -2.69, -1.5%) after reports indicated the Department of Justice will open an antitrust case into the company. Amazon (AMZN 1739.84, -28.49, -1.6%), which is a component of the consumer discretionary sector (-0.6%), also showed relative weakness.
Peloton (PTON 25.76, -3.24, -11.2%) had a disappointing first day of trading. Shares opened at $27.00 after pricing in at $29.00 and gradually retreated throughout the day. On the other hand, investors (or speculators) jumped back into Beyond Meat (BYND 154.34, +16.02, +11.6%) on news that it teamed up with McDonald’s (MCD 212.60, -0.03, unch) for a 12-week test at 28 locations in Canada.