CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Fri 10 Jan, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, +0.12%, 97.42
USDJPY, +0.33%, $109.50
EURUSD, +0.04%, $1.1109
GBPUSD, -0.22%, $1.3069
USDCAD, +0.19%, $1.3063
AUDUSD, -0.18%, $0.6854
NZDUSD, -0.62%, $0.6607
U.S. Initial jobless claims for the week ending January 4 decreased by 9,000 to 214,000 (consensus 225,000). Continuing claims for the week ending December 28 increased by 75,000 to 1.803 million.
The ease in tensions with Iran remained conducive for risk sentiment, even as Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau echoed a Newsweek report that Iranian missiles shot down the Boeing (BA 336.34, +4.97, +1.5%) 737-800 jetliner earlier this week. There was no indication the U.S. would reconsider its de-escalation strategy, though.
Other positive factors included 1) upbeat holiday sales results, 2) several analyst upgrades, 3) weekly jobless claims returning to lower levels, and 4) China confirming Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington from Jan. 13-15 to sign the Phase One trade deal.
U.S. Treasuries finished the session slightly higher. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 1.57%, and the 10-yr yield declined two basis points to 1.86%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.12% to 97.42. WTI crude declined 0.1% to $59.54/bbl.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, +0.67%, 3,274.70
Nasdaq, +0.81%, 9,203.43
Nikkei Futures, +2.54%, 23,737.5
Apple (AAPL 309.63, +6.44, +2.1%) led the information technology sector (+1.1%) higher after Reuters reported that iPhone sales increased 18% yr/yr in China last month. Costco (COST 299.42, +4.73, +1.6%) led the consumer staples sector (+0.7%) higher after it reported 9.0% yr/yr comparable sales growth for the five weeks ended Jan. 5.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 48.97, +1.14, +2.4%), Goldman Sachs (GS 242.60, +4.84, +2.0%), and Coca-Cola (KO 55.34, +0.99, +1.8%) were among today’s stocks that were upgraded to the equivalent of a Buy rating.