US: Retail Sales stay unchanged at $684 billion in September

Retail Sales in the US stayed unchanged in September.

US Dollar Index clings to strong daily gains above 113.00.

The data published by the US Census Bureau showed on Friday that Retail Sales in the US, adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday and trading-day differences but not for price changes, stayed virtually unchanged at $684 billion in September. This reading followed August's increase of 0.4% and came in below the market expectation of +0.2%.

"Total sales for the July 2022 through September 2022 period were up 9.2% from the same period a year ago," the publication further read. "The July 2022 to August 2022 percent change was revised from up 0.3% to up 0.4%."

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index showed no immediate reaction to this data and was last seen rising 0.55% on the day at 113.08.

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Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD to slide below the $1,620 support – ANZ

 Gold prices are likely to fall back to the previous low of $1,620 as bearish momentum is set to continue, economists at ANZ Bank report.

Bearish trend to continue

“Strong US job reports, and higher inflation led gold to resume its downtrend, and it is likely to fall below $1,600.”

“Immediate support lies at $1,620, the previous low. A break of this support should see prices touching the lower bound of the downward channel, which will be below $1,600.

“Immediate resistance is at $1,715, and an upward break of this level would see the next resistance point at $1,800, which will also mark a reversal of downtrend.”

U.S. Futures Rise as Amazon, Apple Shares Surge Before Market Open

U.S. stock markets are set to open higher Friday, set to end the week on a positive note on the back of strong earnings from tech giants Amazon and Apple.

By 6:46 AM ET (1046 GMT), Dow Jones futures were up 109 points or 0.34%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.77%, and Nasdaq 100 futures increased by 1.17%.

The main indices are on course for a second positive week in a row, with generally strong corporate earnings holding sway even after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by a further 75 basis points and GDP contracted for the second quarter in a row.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average is 2% higher so far this week, while the broad-based S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite have both gained 2.8%.

Highlighting the session today will be earnings from the Big Tech sector, with both Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) surpassing expectations with their quarterly results released after the close on Thursday.

Shares in Amazon zoomed higher by more than 12% in premarket trade, thanks to a revised outlook from the company that offset slower net sales growth compared to the same period last year. Amazon now expects a jump in third quarter revenue, citing bigger fees from Prime loyalty subscriptions and resilient consumer demand.

Apple also forecasted strong demand for its flagship iPhone product despite consumers tightening other spending as economic growth slows. The firm also declined to give specific revenue guidance due to economic uncertainty but said annual sales should rise faster in the current quarter than the 2% growth it posted in the just-ended last three months.

Shares in Apple edged into the green by 2.28% in premarket trading.

A fresh batch of European data also helped ease some risk sentiment. The 19-nation Eurozone grew surprisingly strongly in the second quarter, defying expectations of a slowdown and the previous day’s weak U.S. release. Healthy performances in Spain, France, and Italy helped offset stalling growth in Europe's biggest economy, Germany.

However, inflation - which has weighed heavily on business and consumer activity in the region - came in at a new record high of 8.9% compared to the prior year, up from 8.6% in June. Analysts had been anticipating the number to stay at that prior level.

Concerns still remain that the Eurozone will tip into a recession either late this year or early next year despite the strong second quarter.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices moved up on Friday, helped by supply concerns ahead of next week’s meeting of a group of top producers even amid fears of a global recession.

By 7:08 AM EST (1108 GMT), U.S. crude futures were up 2.33% at $98.67 a barrel, while Brent crude was up 2.21% at $104.08 a barrel.

Additionally, gold futures popped slightly to $1,759.40/oz, while the EUR/USD was trading at $1.0225.

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Dow Futures Up 160 Pts; Jobless Claims in Focus

U.S. stocks are seen posting modest gains later Thursday, with investors focusing their attention on reports on initial jobless claims and private sector hiring ahead of Friday’s government nonfarm payrolls report for May.

At 6:50 AM ET (1050 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up 162 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.4% while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 81 points, or 0.6%.

The gains came after Wall Street's three major indexes closed lower on Wednesday amid concerns that the Federal Reserve will stick to its aggressive rate hike cycle aimed at curbing soaring inflation.

The Dow ended down 176.89 points, or 0.5%, on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was off around 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.7%.

The Labor Department is to publish its weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 AM ET. ADP will release data on private sector hiring at 8:15 AM ET.

The employment data is coming ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for May with economists expecting the economy to have added 325,000 jobs last month. While still solid, it would represent the slowest jobs growth in around a year with the labor market transitioning to more moderate growth as the effects of the pandemic ebb.

Data on Wednesday showed that U.S. job openings fell in April, but remained at high levels, suggesting that wages would continue to rise, contributing to already high inflation.

Investors are closely watching economic data for clues as to what it might mean for interest rates and Friday’s employment report could set the tone for markets this month after a tumultuous month of May.

In corporate news, shares in online pet product retailer Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) surged around 17% ahead of the open after its quarterly earnings results late Wednesday came in ahead of expectations.

Shares in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) were lower after it reported slight misses in both earnings and revenue, after the bell on Wednesday.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) stock was also in focus after Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced in a Facebook post late Wednesday that she is leaving the company after 14 years.

The announcement initially sent Meta's shares down 4%, but the stock erased the losses in after-hours trade.

Earnings from big tech names Crowdstrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Asana (NYSE:ASAN) are due after the close, along with results from retailers Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), Designer Brands (NYSE:DBI) and RH (NYSE:RH).

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Nasdaq futures jump 2% after Meta earnings beat

Nasdaq 100 futures jumped more than 2% on Thursday as Meta Platforms shares soared after a stronger-than-expected profit, taking some pressure off growth and technology stocks that have been battered recently.

The Facebook-parent rose 17.7% in early New York trading after the social-networking site also eked out user growth.

Other megcap stocks such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc rose between 1.7% and 3.4%.

The Nasdaq Composite index is on course to post losses of over 10% in April, as investors dumped high-growth stocks on fears that rising interest rates will threaten future earnings and after Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) posted a shocking subscriber loss.

Apple, the world's most valuable company, and e-commerce giant Amazon are set to report earnings after markets close on Thursday.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Inc jumped 8.4% after the chipmaker forecast third-quarter revenue above analyst expectations.

At 05:05 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 390 points, or 1.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 76.75 points, or 1.84%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 328.25 points, or 2.52%.

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📕 Comment on Gold on April 25, 2022:

 📕 Comment on Gold on April 25, 2022:

 - Ending the last trading week, precious metal Gold closed with a bearish candle with quite strong force around 1931 and in the early morning of today Gold continued to decline to around 1921, the price turned around.  exactly the same as the starting point of the rally 2 weeks ago.

 - Gold is currently in the support zone 1917-1920.  It is likely that Gold will recover slightly here after a fairly strong drop last week and in my opinion it is likely that Gold will recover to around the 1940 level here we need to wait and see a sell signal.  .  If Gold cannot recover and break through the 1917-1920 threshold, the possibility of this precious metal will slide down to 1900-1890.

 Dow Jones Futures Fall 80 Pts; ADP, GDP Data and Lululemon Results in Focus

U.S. stocks are seen opening lower Wednesday, handing back some of the recent gains as investors await key economic reports on jobs and economic output while monitoring developments in Ukraine.

At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 80 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 13 points, or 0.3%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 70 points, or 0.5%.

The main Wall Street indices closed higher Tuesday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ending 338 points, or 1% higher and the broad-based S&P 500 gaining 1.2%, both registering their fourth straight day of gains, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.8%.

Helping the tone Tuesday were signs of progress in the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey. However, optimism has quickly turned into skepticism, with a Pentagon spokesman saying Ukraine’s capital Kyiv remains under threat even after Russia promised to scale back military operations there. 

“Nobody should be fooling ourselves by the Kremlin’s now-recent claim that it will suddenly just reduce military attacks near Kyiv or any reports that it is going to withdraw all its forces,” John Kirby said. It’s “a repositioning, not a real withdrawal” from positions around the Ukrainian capital.

Also catching the interest of investors are a series of important data releases given the Federal Reserve is in the process of weighing up how aggressively to hike interest rates at its May meeting.

Expectations of sharp interest rate increases saw the 2-year Treasury yield briefly climb above the 10-year for the first time since 2019, a move that is often seen as a warning of an upcoming recession.

March's ADP nonfarm employment change data is set to be released at 8:15 AM ET (1215 GMT), with consensus forecasts looking for companies to have added 450,000 jobs, while GDP for the fourth quarter, at 8:30 AM ET, is set to show a 7.1% reading from the month before, well above the previous 2.3% release.

In the corporate sector, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) traded higher premarket after the company gave a robust forecast for the ongoing quarter, suggesting demand from data centers remains strong.

Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) will also be in the spotlight after the athletic apparel maker beat quarterly earnings estimates and announced a $1 billion stock buyback program. 

Oil prices rose Wednesday, rebounding after a two-day retreat following a fresh reminder of the tight nature of the market as data showed U.S. crude stocks fell sharply last week.

Data from the industry body, the American Petroleum Institute, showed U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels in the week ended March 25. The official data from the Energy Information Administration is due later in the session.

The oil market had dropped sharply this week on progress in the Ukraine/Russia peace talks as well as demand worries over fresh Covid-19 lockdowns in China, the world’s largest crude importer. 

By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 2.5% higher at $106.84 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 2.4% to $110.29. 

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,919.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.4% higher at 1.1129.

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