North American News
US stocks close lower but still higher on the week
- Nasdaq the worst performer as rates move higher but still led the charge higher this week
The major US stock indices are ending lower on the day led by the NASDAQ index with a decline of about -1.6%. However, that comes after some pretty strong gains including a 3.25% gain yesterday.
The final numbers are showing:
- Dow Industrial Average fell -127.93 points or -0.38% at 33926.00
- S&P index fell -43.26 points -1.03% at 4136.49
- NASDAQ index fell -193.85 points or -1.59% at 12006.96
- Russell 2000 fell -15.68 points or -0.78% at 1985.53
For the trading week, the S&P and NASDAQ closed higher, but the Dow Industrial Average had a small decline as traders rotated away from the relative safety of the down into the tech heavy NASDAQ:
- Dow Industrial Average fell -0.15%
- S&P index rose 1.62%
- NASDAQ index rose 3.31%
US nonfarm payroll 517K vs 185K estimate. Unemployment rate 3.4% vs 3.5% estimate
- US employment report for January 2023
- Nonfarm payroll 517K vs 185K estimate
- prior month 223K (was expecting 200 K last month). Rewvised to 260K
- the nonfarm payroll for November was revised up 34K from 256K to 290K. The December was revised up 37K from 223K to 260K for a total 2 month increase of 71K adding to the stronger data.
- Unemployment rate 3.4% vs 3.6% estimate. Prior month 3.5%
- Average hourly earnings 0.3% vs 0.3% expected. Per month 0.3%
- Average hourly earnings YoY 4.4% vs 4.3% expected. Last month 4.6%
- Participation rate 62.4% versus 62.3% last month
- Average weekly hours 34.7 versus 34.3 estimate. Last month 34.3
- Change manufacturing payrolls 19K versus 6K estimate
- Payrolls benchmark NSA revision for 2022
- Payroll benchmark SA 2022
Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and health care. Employment also increased in government, partially reflecting the return of workers from a strike.
- Leisure and hospitality rose 128K
- manufacturing +19
- construction +28K
- professional and business services 82K
- healthcare +58K
- transportation and warehousing +23K
ISM US nonmanufacturing PMI index 55.2 versus 50.4 estimate
- US ISM nonmanufacturing PMI index for January 2023
- Nonmanufacturing PMI index 55.2 versus 50.4 estimate. Prior month 49.2
- nonmanufacturing business activity index 60.4 versus 54.5 estimate. Prior month 53.5
- employment index 50.0 versus 49.4 last month
- new orders index 60.4 versus 45.2 last month
- prices paid index 67.8 versus 68.1 last month
- new export orders 59.0 versus 47.7 last month
- imports 53.0 versus 52.7 last month
- backlog of orders 52.9 versus 51.5 last month
- inventories 49.2 versus 45.1 last month
- supplier deliveries 50.0 versus 48.5 last month
- inventory sentiment 55.8 versus 55.9 last month
The Fed members have been concerned about the service sector inflation. This report, along with the US jobs report does not appease that concern and will keep the Fed in play for hikes like it or not.
Commodities
Gold Price: Upside risk to XAU/USD forecast of $1,850 at year’s end – Commerzbank
Gold price surged by $30 immediately after the Fed’s meeting on Wednesday evening and reached $1,960 the following day. Economists at Commerzbank see upside risks to their XAU/USD year-end forecast of $1,850.
Silver tumbles to eight-week lows, worst week since October
- US Dollar soars across the board.
- US ISM Service brings in more favourable data.
- Silver drops by more than 3% on Friday; down 8% from Thursday’s peak.
Metals extended the sell-off after the US official employment report. Silver hits fresh monthly lows near $22.50 and is having the worst day in months.
WTI crude oil futures settled at $73.39
- Down -$2.49 or -3.28%
WTI crude oil futures settled at $73.39 today. That was down -$2.49 or -3.28%.
The high price reached $78.00 today. The low reached $73.13. The price traded to the lowest level going back to January 23. The low for the year reached $72.46 back on January 5th. The cycle low from December reached $70.08.
EU News
European indices close the day with mixed results
- UK’s FTSE 100 trades to a new all-time high today, and closes at the highest level ever
The major European indices are ending the day with mixed results:
- German DAX, -0.21%
- France’s CAC, +0.94%
- UK’s FTSE 100, +1.04%
- Spain’s Ibex, -0.04%
- Italy’s FTSE MIB -0.56%
For the trading week:
- German DAX rose 2.15%
- France CAC rose 1.93%
- UK FTSE 100 rose 1.76%
- Spain’s Ibex rose 1.83%
- Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 1.97%
Other News
US Secretary of State point can cancel his trip to China
- Balloon incident in US airspace is not a good thing
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is postponing his trip to China
- Presence of a balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty
- US directly communicating with China through multiple levels once balloon was detected
- Unacceptable that balloon incident has taken place.
- US believes in the policy to responsibly manage US China relationships
- Conveyed to China’s Wang Yi early on Friday that trip would need to be postponed
- US noted China’s statement of regret over the balloon incident
- indicated he would go to China at the earliest opportunity when conditions allow
- US committed to maintaining open lines with China at all times including during this incident
- In the current environment, agenda for Lincoln’s trip would have been significantly narrowed
Cryptocurrency News
NYDIG to reclaim 27,403 Bitcoin mining machines as bankrupt miner Core Scientific ends loan
- New York Digital Investment Group is among the biggest underwriter for mining machines-backed loans.
- Core Scientific is seeking to end the $38.6 million loan by returning the collateral.
- Bitcoin mining industry has noted a positive change thanks to the decline in machine prices.
The New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) is among the top few companies that have remained unscathed in the last few months. Despite noting exposure to the crypto industry, NYDIG has remained mostly unscathed, even though it is losing money in mining machine loans.
Core Scientific ends it with New York Digital Investment Group
Core Scientific, the mining company that filed for bankruptcy back in December last year with a $75 million loan, is set to return NYDIG its properties. Loaned to the bankrupt mining firm as part of a $38.6 million loan, the machines only represented a value of $25 million.
According to the court filing, the 27,403 machines will be shipped back to New York Digital Investment Group over the next few months.
Being among the biggest mining machine-backed loan provider, the company has managed to give out loans amounting to $378 million between October 2020 and May 2022. However, not all of them have bore profits for the company.
According to reports, NYDIG has repossessed thousands of machines due to loan defaults. Instances of the same can be found in Stronghold Digital Mining, which returned 26,200 machines. The lender might also eliminate Iris Energy’s loan as the company defaulted on another $103 million loan.
Amongst the receiver of machine-backed loans from New York Digital Investment Group, Argo emerged as the leader taking loans worth almost $100 million, followed by Greenridge and Iris Energy which has held nearly $71 million worth of loans backed by NYDIG.
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