S&P500
The main US indices fell markedly on Thursday. The Dow remained at the same level, the NASDAQ lost 1.7%, and the S&P500 dropped by 0.7%.
Asian markets closed the trading week in the morning with a loss. Japan's stock indices fell by 1%, while China's indices lost 0.5%. Stock markets are wary of the US inflation report today as it is a precursor to Fed policy tightening.
Oil halted a week of gains on Thursday and fell by around $1.5. Brent crude is trading around $74 on Friday, also reacting to expectations of high inflation in the US.
The number of coronavirus cases worldwide keeps rising. Yesterday, there were 600K new cases around the world. In the US, there were 107K cases. The UK and France reported +56K and +50K new infections respectively. The new Omicron strain has already been registered in 50 countries. According to claims by the main vaccine manufacturers, three doses vaccine provided a high level of protection against new variant of the virus.
The S&P500 index is trading at 4,667 and is expected to be in the 4,640–4,700 range.
Thursday's weekly unemployment report showed a fall in new jobless claims in the US. They rose by 184K. Analysts revealed that this was the lowest level of new jobless claims for the week in 52 years. Still, the figure is volatile and the decline could simply be a coincidence of random factors such as pandemics, weather, etc. Long-term unemployment rose to almost 2 million for the week. Inflation data for November is expected to be published today. It is supposed to climb by 0.5 or 0.6% for the month. In October, inflation rose by 0.9%. Fed officials have already started to prepare the markets for the possibility of an accelerated winding down of the Fed's growth support programme. Currently officials are talking about an end to the programme as early as March 2022. The Fed meeting will take place as early as next Tuesday or Wednesday.
The IMF warns that if the new Omicron strain spreads worldwide, the global economy would suffer losses of up to $5.3 trillion.
Italy has fined Amazon, the largest US online seller, $1.28bn for its monopoly position in the market. Still, Amazon has been so profitable in exploiting the pandemic situation against the backdrop of massive growth in online sales that even such a fine would not significantly undermine the profitability of the business.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a number of major US company owners, such as Musk, Zuckerberg and co-owners of Google, sold large stock of their companies' shares in November. A total of $63bn worth of shares were sold. This is important information for investors.
USDX is trading at 96.20 and is expected to be in the 95.90–96.50 range. As expected, the dollar index was unchanged until the inflation report was released.
USDCAD is trading at 1.2710 and is expected to be in the 1.2660–1.2800 range. The pair markedly bounced back up from the lows of the week following a drop in oil. The pair moved from a fall to a range state.
The market awaits the inflation report and is keeping an eye on the day's and week's close.
