CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Mon Nov 18th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
U.S. Dollar Index, -0.16%, 98.00
USDJPY, +0.31%, $108.75
EURUSD, +0.27%, $1.1053
GBPUSD, +0.20%, $1.2907
USDCAD, -0.18%, $1.3223
AUDUSD, +0.49%, $0.6820
NZDUSD, +0.30%, $0.6401
U.S. October retail sales increased 0.3% m/m (consensus +0.2%) following an unrevised 0.3% decline in September. Excluding autos, retail sales jumped 0.2% (consensus +0.4%) after declining an unrevised 0.1% decline in September. Industrial production slumped 0.8% in October (consensus -0.4%) on the heels of an upwardly revised 0.3% decline (from -0.4%) in September. The capacity utilisation rate fell to 76.7% (consensus 77.1%) from 77.5% in September.
Stock market rallied higher into record territory on Friday, with risk sentiment fuelled by NEC Director Larry Kudlow saying the U.S. and China are close to reaching a Phase One trade agreement.
U.S. Treasuries didn’t sell off despite the risk-on in the stock market, but they did edge lower. The 2-yr yield increased three basis points to 1.61%, and the 10-yr yield increased two basis points to 1.83%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.16% to 98.00. WTI crude rose 0.9%, or $0.99, to $57.75/bbl.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, +0.77%, 3,120.46
Nasdaq, +0.73%, 8,540.83
Nikkei Futures, +1.07%, 23,367.5
The S&P 500 health care sector did the heavy lifting on Friday, climbing 2.2%, even as the Trump administration announced an initiative to increase price transparency from hospitals and insurers. Investors were evidently unconcerned about the proposal leading to an adverse effect on earnings.
No other S&P 500 sector increased 1.0%, but the continued outperformance of Apple (AAPL 265.76, +3.12, +1.2%), Microsoft (MSFT 149.97, +1.91, +1.3%), and Alphabet (GOOG 1334.87, +23.41, +1.8%) should not be understated. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 44.86, +0.44, +1.0%) and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (+0.9%) also showed relative strength.
Retail stocks extended yesterday’s advance after October retail sales increased 0.3% m/m (consensus +0.2%). Semiconductor stocks benefited from the trade news and the solid results and guidance from Applied Materials (AMAT 62.06, +5.10, +9.0%). Conservative guidance from NVIDIA (NVDA 204.19, -5.60, -2.7%) did limit gains, though.
Interestingly, the trade-sensitive materials sector (-0.1%) was the lone holdout on Friday. Separately, T-Mobile US (TMUS 78.07, +1.23, +1.6%) CEO John Legere is no longer considering the CEO role at WeWork, according to CNBC. Shares of RH (RH 188.47, +13.25, +7.6%) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY 38.95, +1.19, +3.2%) outperformed after Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B 219.74, +0.38, +0.2%) disclosed new positions in the companies.