Friday, February 22, 2019

Oil Futures (/CL)

Oil Futures (/CL) are stretching to fresh 2019 highs near $58 a barrel with another 1% gain coming in speculation of a favorable trade deal with China to spur further economic expansion.  Gold Futures (/GC) are barely hanging on to weekly gains at $1331 an ounce after two straight losing sessions amid a rumored hostile takeover of Newmont  Mining (NEM) by Canadian rival Barrick Gold as competition has increased. 

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

(SPX) 2/6

Stronger than expected earnings from some consumer discretionary companies help lead the S&P 500 (SPX) to its fifth consecutive higher session.  Beauty products maker Estee Lauder (EL) and fashion house Ralph Lauren (RL) rose 12% and 8.4%, respectively after strong quarterly results. Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) also rose 0.9% to 1151.87 despite incurring rising costs.  After fears of slowing U.S. growth and tariffs, investors came into 2019 with low expectations for the current earnings season.  Better or ‘not so bad’ results have helped fuel the recent rally.  After suffering its biggest annual loss in a decade last year, the S&P 500 (SPX) is up over 9% since the beginning of the year.  On the day, the Dow Jones Industrials ($DJI) rose 0.7% to 25411.52, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) gained 0.7% to 7402.08, and the S&P 500 (SPX) added 0.5% to 2737.70.