Dow Nears the 18,000 Level, Gold Suffers as Dollar Strengthens
December 23, 2014 8:38 am
A holiday hush settled over Asian markets on Tuesday after Wall Street closed at historic highs while oil prices recouped a small percentage of the losses suffered when Saudi Arabia quashed all thought of curbing supply. U.S. stocks rose for a fourth straight session on Monday, with both the Dow and S&P 500 ending at records as large-cap technology shares gained and offset continued weakness in energy names. The Dow rose 154 points to close at 17,959, the S&P500 rose 7 points to close at 2,078.
Expectations the ECB will act as soon as January saw the Euro touch a 2.5 year trough at $1.2215 on Monday and it was last trading at $1.2227. Buying in Asia saw the Dollar come close to 120.20 Yen. However, momentum quickly faded in thin year-end conditions. Commodity currencies fared no better with the Australian Dollar pinned near a 4.5 year low of $0.8107 plumbed last week.
The steady climb in the Dollar made life miserable for Gold buffs with the precious metal stuck at $1,179.61, after falling from $1,201.80 on Monday. U.S. crude edged up 70 cents to $55.93, but remained well short of Monday’s $58.53 high. Brent stood at $60.49 having recouped 38 Cents of Monday’s $1.25 fall.
Today’s data sees UK and US GDP figures released at 9:30am and 13:30pm respectively. Traders will be looking for some positive figures not only to buck global slowdown trends but also to potentially push the Dow over 18000 for the year.
A holiday hush settled over Asian markets on Tuesday after Wall Street closed at historic highs while oil prices recouped a small percentage of the losses suffered when Saudi Arabia quashed all thought of curbing supply. U.S. stocks rose for a fourth straight session on Monday, with both the Dow and S&P 500 ending at records as large-cap technology shares gained and offset continued weakness in energy names. The Dow rose 154 points to close at 17,959, the S&P500 rose 7 points to close at 2,078.
Expectations the ECB will act as soon as January saw the Euro touch a 2.5 year trough at $1.2215 on Monday and it was last trading at $1.2227. Buying in Asia saw the Dollar come close to 120.20 Yen. However, momentum quickly faded in thin year-end conditions. Commodity currencies fared no better with the Australian Dollar pinned near a 4.5 year low of $0.8107 plumbed last week.
The steady climb in the Dollar made life miserable for Gold buffs with the precious metal stuck at $1,179.61, after falling from $1,201.80 on Monday. U.S. crude edged up 70 cents to $55.93, but remained well short of Monday’s $58.53 high. Brent stood at $60.49 having recouped 38 Cents of Monday’s $1.25 fall.
Today’s data sees UK and US GDP figures released at 9:30am and 13:30pm respectively. Traders will be looking for some positive figures not only to buck global slowdown trends but also to potentially push the Dow over 18000 for the year.
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