Tremendous day on Wall Street Wednesday, as US stocks rallied. We saw strong earnings from the technology sector and a bigger-than-expected rise in existing-home sales sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a nearly three-year high Wednesday. The Dow rose 186.79 points, to 12453.54, its highest closing level since June 5, 2008. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 57.54, to 2,802.51, its biggest one-day percentage gain since Oct. 5. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index added 17.74, to 1,330.36. The technology sector led the advance, as the stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue growth from Intel , IBM and Apple boosted sentiment for the quarterly results to come from others in the sector.
Crude oil broke through $112 a barrel in electronic trading on Thursday, extending sharp gains made in the previous session amid a weaker dollar and a decline in oil inventories. Crude rose 76 cents to $112.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices jumped 3.2% on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected decline in oil inventories in the week ended April 15. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, dropped to 74.09, from 74.384 in late North American trading Wednesday.
Ongoing supply fears surrounding unresolved geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and, most recently, Nigeria, have contributed to the recent rally in oil prices.
Natural gas futures were up for a second day on Wednesday, amid indications of increased demand as forecasts showed warmer-than-normal weather in the southern U.S. next week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for May delivery traded at $4.306 during U.S. morning trade, gaining 0.5%.It earlier rose to $4.329, the highest price since April 4. The Commodity Weather Group said temperatures in the south were expected to be as much as 14 degrees above normal from April 24 to April 28. Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration was due to release its weekly report on U.S. natural gas stockpiles for the week ended April 15 on Thursday.
Today’s Important Economic Announcements (GMT)
9:00 AM EUR German Ifo Business Climate
9:30 AM GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing & Retail Sales
1:30 PM CAD Core Retail Sales m/m
1:30 PM USD Unemployment Claims
2:00 PM EUR Belgium NBB Business Climate
3:00 PM USD Philly Fed Manufacturing Index
Natural Gas
Following up on our fundamental analysis, according to weather service provider AccuWeather, the high temperature in Houston on April 27 will be 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius), ten degrees above average. For those of you who are not sure as to why temperatures in Huston are so important, we give this simple answer: Hot weather = bigger hurricanes = disruptions in supply. Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration was due to release its weekly report on U.S. natural gas stockpiles for the week ended April 15 on Thursday. We expect prices to head north in direct relation to temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.
Stop Loss: 4.112
Take Profit: 4.414
Gold
In the US trading session commodity prices continued to surge on US dollar weakness. In light trading conditions both gold and silver rallied to new highs. Spot gold rose to a new high at $1,505.65 to settle at $1,500. The U.S. effectively lost its triple-A rating in the eyes of investors that really matter quite some time ago, back when gold broke $1,000 an ounce. We don’t think America’s perceived rating will improve anytime soon and this is the driving force behind our expectation of gold’s continued price strength. Our next target for gold is $1,522 an ounce.
Stop Loss: 1,497.5
Take Profit: 1,522.0
GBP/USD
The pound traded with higher than usual volatility following the release of the BOE meeting minutes. No change was seen in the report and the knee jerk reaction by traders was to sell the pound. The GBP/USD fell from its intraday high to a low of 1.6306 where the pair found buyers amid the risk on crowd. The pair is currently trading near its daily high at 1.6390. Resistance for the Cable is located at the recent high of 1.6425 followed by 1.6460. Right now, there is a divergence in the MACD, which means it a great time to short sell the GBP against the USD.
Stop Loss: 1.6449
Take Profit: 1.6358
Published by www.SolidityBrokers.com
