North American News
US stocks end the week with strong gains and close at session highs
- Dow up for 6 straight days. S&P and Nasdaq up 3 straight days
The major US stock indices are closing the day at session highs and complete a strong week after multi-week declines. The Dow snapped a 8 week down streak while the S&P and Nasdaq snapped 7 week declines.
- Nasdaq has best week in more than 2 months
- Dow is up for the 6th straight day
- S&P and Nasdaq rose the final 3 days of the week and 4 of 5 days.
- S&P had its best week in 2022
The final numbers are showing:
- Dow industrial average rose and 575.77 points or 1.76% to 33212
- S&P index rose 100.38 points or 2.47% to 4158.23
- NASDAQ index rose 390.49 point or 3.33% to 12131.14
- Russell 2000 rose 49.61 points or 2.7% to 1887.85
For the trading week:
- Dow industrial average rose 6.24%
- S&P index rose 6.58%
- NASDAQ index rose 6.84%
- Russell 2000 rose 6.46%
US April PCE core 4.9% YoY vs. 4.9% expected
- Highlights from the April 2022 PCE report
- Prior was 5.2% YoY
- PCE core YoY 4.9% vs 4.9% estimate
- PCE core (ex food and energy) MoM 0.3% vs 0.3% expected
- Prior MoM core 0.9%
- Headline PCE YoY 6.3% vs 6.6% last month
- Headline PCE MoM 0.2% vs 0.9% last month
Consumer spending and income for April:
- personal income 0.4% vs. 0.5% estimate
- personal spending 0.9% vs 0.7% estimate
- savings rate fell to 4.4%. That was the lowest since 2008
According to the BAE:
- The increase in personal income in April primarily reflected an increase in compensation and personal income receipts on assets that were partly offset by a decrease in proprietors’ income. Within compensation, the increase reflected increases in both private and government wages and salaries. The increase in personal income receipts on assets was led by personal dividend income. The decrease in proprietors’ income was led by nonfarm income.
- The 0.9% increase in current-dollar PCE in April reflected an increase of $48.6 billion in spending for goods and a $103.7 billion increase in spending for services. Within goods, increases were widespread across all components except for gasoline and other energy goods; spending for motor vehicles and parts was the leading contributor to the increase. Within services, increases were also widespread across all components, led by food services and accommodations as well as housing and utilities.
- The PCE price index for April increased 6.3 percent from one year ago, reflecting increases in both goods and services . Energy prices increased 30.4 percent while food prices increased 10.0 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index for April increased 4.9 percent from one year ago.
Commodities
Gold Price Analysis: XAU/USD steady around $1850s as bulls remain hopeful for a push to $1900
- Gold aims to finish the week with decent gains of 0.37%.
- US Core PCE eases from 5.1% YoY, though remains at forty-year highs; will the Fed pause?
- Gold Price Analysis (XAU/USD): If Gold bulls reclaim $1870, a push towards $1900 is on the cards.
Gold spot (XAU/USD) climbs during the New York session but is still unable to challenge the weekly highs and remains glued to the 20-day moving average (DMA) near the $1848.48 area. At the time of writing, XAU/USD is trading at $1852.28 a troy ounce.
US Core PCE came aligned with expectations but lower than March’s reading
European and US equities continued rising amidst an upbeat market mood. The US Commerce Department released the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), the Fed’s favorite inflation reading. Numbers came better than expected, showing that prices are still elevated but off the 5.1% highs, at 4.9% YoY.
Now that inflation appears to be easing from forty-years highs, will the Fed tighten conditions at a slower pace? Meanwhile, the Fed’s May minutes showed that all its members agreed to hike rates by 50 bps in each of the two-consecutive monetary policy meetings.
In the meantime, the US Dollar Index, a measure of the buck’s value vs. its peers, pares some early-day losses and is gaining some 0.07%, sitting at 101.827. Failure to reclaim above 102.500 would open the door for a re-test of the April 24 low at 99.818.
Contrarily to the USD gains, US Treasury yields showed that investors are scaling back from overpricing the US central bank rate hikes expectations. The US 10-year Treasury yield is almost flat in the day, posting minimal losses, down at 2.743%, a tailwind for the non-yielding metal, which benefits from lower yields.
Elsewhere, the US economic docket revealed additional data. Consumer spending rose 0.9% last month and beat estimations as consumers boosted purchases of goods and services, a sign that could underpin US economic growth in the Q2 amid increasing worries of a recession.
Gold Price Analysis (XAU/USD): Technical outlook
On Friday’s price action, Gold has reclaimed the 20-day moving average (DMA) at $1848.42, sitting above the $1850 mark. It’s worth noting that XAU/USD bears could not push prices below the 200-DMA, signaling that selling pressure might be easing, as shown by oscillators. The Relative Strenght Index (RSI) at 45.56 begins to aim higher. Even though it remains in bearish territory, an upslope keeps Gold bulls hopeful of lifting prices towards $1900.
That said, the XAU/USD first resistance would be $1869.61. Break above would send the spot towards the confluence of the Bollinger’s band top band and the March lows at around the $1889.91-1891.08 area. Once cleared, the next stop would be $1900
WTI crude oil futures settle at $115.07
- Up $0.98 or 0.86%
The price of WTI crude oil futures settled at $115.07. That’s up $0.98 or 0.86%. Last week the price settled at $110.28. The gain for the week was $4.79 or 4.34% 4.34%.
Looking at the hourly chart, the price moved back above its 100 and 200 hour moving averages on Wednesday. During trading yesterday, the converge moving averages held support which ultimately led to a break of a swing area between $111.37 and $111.96. The run to the upside today took the price to a high of $115.30. That was just short of the April 18 high price of $115.56. A move above that level would open the door for further upside momentum in the new trading week.
EU News
European major indices close week with gains
- Major indices higher for the week as well
The major European indices are ending the week with gains on Friday and gains for the week:
the final numbers are showing:
- German DAX, +230.9 points or 1.62% at 14462.20
- France’s CAC +105.17 points or 1.64% at 6515.76
- UK’s FTSE 100 +20.54 points or is 0.27% at 7585.47
- Spain’s Ibex +44.8 points or 0.50% at 8933.61
- Italy’s FTSE MIB +89.76 points or 0.37% at 24636.
For the week:
- German DAX, +3.44%
- France’s CAC +3.67%
- UK’s FTSE 100 +2.65%
- Spain’s Ibex +5.29%
- Italy’s FTSE MIB +2.23%
Other News
German Chancellor Scholz: Supports Ukraine until Russia stops the attack
- Germany’s Scholz
German Chancellor Scholz is on the wires saying that
- Germany will support Ukraine until Russia stop the attacks
- He will continue to talk to Russian Pres. Putin
The Ukraine war remains a drag and risk for all markets and economies around the world.
Nevertheless, any compromise, hopes for an end, even high level talks, would be good/great news for markets and the global economies as oil prices decline/food commodities decline/inflation comes back down.
On the other side, the risks still remain high that there is no progress. That Putin continues on their quest and moves leaders from around the world to reevaluate the next plan of action as basic needs are not met (like feeding the world).
Cryptocurrency News
Dogecoin-killer Shiba Inu adds 30,000 new holders after burning 410.3 trillion SHIB
- Shiba Inu burn portal revealed a burn of 410.3 trillion SHIB tokens, of which 226 million were burned overnight.
- SHIB added 30,000 new holders, as the Dogecoin-killer’s token burn continued, reducing its circulating supply.
- Analysts have a negative outlook on Shiba Inu for the near term, as selling pressure on the Dogecoin-killer increases.
Dogecoin-killer Shiba Inu has witnessed a spike in the number of holders of SHIB tokens after s spike in its burn rate. Despite the rising on-chain activity on SHIB, analysts are bearish on the meme coin price.
Shiba Inu adds 30,000 new holders
Shiba-Inu-themed meme coin SHIB has added 30,000 new holders within the past month. Shiba Inu burn rate has climbed consistently, hitting 171% level within the past 24 hours. According to data from Shibburn portal, 203.4 million Shiba Inu tokens were burned overnight. 410.3 trillion Shiba Inu tokens have been burned so far, reducing the meme coin’s circulating supply drastically.
Despite a reduction in Shiba Inu price, there is a spike in its burn rate and number of holders. In the past 24 hours, Ethereum whales have accumulated $1.53 million worth of Shiba Inu tokens.
Merchants in the Shiba Inu community have come up with new ways of burning SHIB. The ShibSuperStore has been accepted in the Amazon affiliate program, therefore, on every purchase, there is a burn of 1% to 20% of the price, in SHIB.
Shiba Inu price could plummet in the long term
Shiba Inu has 1,169 million token holders on the Ethereum blockchain. More Ethereum holders have joined the Shiba Inu network over the past month. Analysts evaluated the Shiba Inu price trend and predicted a rise in selling pressure.
Analysts have identified s descending triangle formation in the Shiba Inu price chart. A sustained push from bears could trigger a downtrend in Shiba Inu. Antonio Smith, leading crypto analyst has identified $0.000015 as the resistance for Shiba Inu price.
Elon Musk: Tesla merchandise can be bought with Doge. Soon SpaceX merchandise too
- He must need a bounce in Doge to help pay for Twitter
Doge is trading near the lows for the cycle and the lowest levels since April 2021. The price is down around 50% from the end of year level and well below the all-time high from 2021 at 0.7400. The current price is at 0.0844.
Today the price has traded between 0.0760 and 0.0900.
To the moon!
The good news for musk is that Tesla shares have rebounded on the lowest level since June 2021. The low price this week reached $620.57. The prices 20.65% off of that low currently trading at $751.72. That’s the good news, the not so good news is the price closed the year at $1056. That is down -28.7% or $-305.