CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Fri Nov 8th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, +0.18%, 98.13
USDJPY, +0.28%, $109.28
EURUSD, -0.13%, $1.1053
GBPUSD, -0.25%, $1.282
USDCAD, -0.04%, $1.3175
AUDUSD, +0.24%, $0.6899
NZDUSD, +0.09%, $0.6374
U.S. Initial jobless claims for the week ending November 2 decreased by 8,000 to 211,000 (consensus 217,000). Continuing jobless claims for the week ending October 26 decreased by 3,000 to 1.689 million. The Consumer Credit report for September showed an increase of $9.5 billion (consensus $14.0 billion), and August credit growth was unrevised at $17.9 billion.
The stock market rallied to new highs on Thursday after China’s Commerce Ministry said it reached an agreement with the U.S. for both sides to phase out tariffs. News of internal strife within the White House about those plans, however, curbed some enthusiasm in the market.
In trade, China’s announcement was confirmed by an unnamed U.S. official to Bloomberg, but multiple sources familiar with trade talks followed up to Reuters that opposition is based on concerns that the U.S. would give away leverage to Beijing. Considering that China reportedly wants all retaliatory tariffs removed for the “Phase One” deal to get signed, the news understandably created some jitters in the market.
The 2-yr yield rose seven basis points to 1.67%, and the 10-yr yield rose 11 basis points to 1.93%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.18% to 98.13.
In B0E, two officials unexpectedly voted to lower interest rates on Thursday to ward off an economic slowdown, and others including Governor Mark Carney said they would consider a cut if global and Brexit headwinds do not ease. Economists had expected the BoE to vote unanimously to keep Bank Rate at 0.75%, and the announcement of the 7-2 split pushed sterling to a two-week low as market odds on a cut next year rose as high as 80%.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, +0.27%, 3,085.18
Nasdaq, +0,28%, 8,434.52
Nikkei Futures, +1.04%, 23,542.5
The trade-sensitive Philadelphia Semiconductor Index increased 0.7%, although it was up as much as 1.8% in the session. The group still outperformed, though, largely due to the positive reaction to Qualcomm’s (QCOM 89.98, +5.35, +6.3%) better-than-expected quarterly results.
Separately, the online travel services industry received negative attention after Expedia Group (EXPE 98.29, -37.07, -27.4%) and TripAdvisor (TRIP 31.65, -9.14, -22.4%) provided investors disappointing quarterly results. Ensuing industry concerns undercut shares of Booking Holdings (BKNG 1849.93, -162.16, -8.1%) in front of its earnings report after the close.