Opening Bell: Oil Surges, Bitcoin Wavers, Equity Rally Halts
Investing.com | Feb 20, 2018 07:10AM ET
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US markets reopen after Presidents’ Day holiday
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Yields and currencies drive markets
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Focus on Treasury Auction 11:30 EST
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Oil climbs above $62 as OPEC, Russia promise to support prices
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Bitcoin caught between mixed news reports
h2 Key Events/h2 -
On Wednesday the Federal Reserve will release minutes from its January 30-31 meeting, Janet Yellen’s last as chair, where officials left interest rates unchanged.
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Fed policy makers speaking this week include New York Fed President William Dudley and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester is among speakers at the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum in New York City.
Earnings Reports
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Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is schedule to release earnings before market open, for the fiscal quarter ending January, with an EPS forecast of $1.62, versus $1.44 YoY.
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Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) is expected report earnings results before market open for the fiscal quarter ending January, with a $1.36 EPS forecast vs $1.3 YoY. The strengthening economy brought out shoppers during the November-December holidays, increasing retail sales by 5.5 percent YoY, to about $692 billion, the largest increase in holiday sales since the 2008 Great Recession. Will those numbers impact the world’s largest company by revenue?
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The STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed 0.2 percent.
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Futures on the S&P 500 Index dropped by 0.3 percent, in the first retreat in more than a week.
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The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 0.8 percent, the first drop in more than a week.
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The UK’s FTSE 100 Index was little changed.
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The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.5 percent, the biggest decline in more than a week.
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The US dollar Index climbed 0.43 percent, set for the highest close in a week.
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The euro declined 0.5 percent to $1.2347, the lowest in more than a week.
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The British pound dipped 0.5 percent to $1.3934.
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Japan’s yen sank 0.5 percent to 107.13 per dollar, in the largest decrease in more than two weeks.
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South Africa’s rand declined 0.6 percent to 11.7365 per dollar.
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The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased five basis points to 2.92 percent, the highest in more than four years.
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Germany 10-year yield climbed two basis points to 0.76 percent.
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UK 10-year yield rose two basis points to 1.622 percent.
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WTI crude climbed 0.8 percent to $62.19 a barrel, the highest level in two weeks.
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Gold sank 0.7 percent to $1,337.02 an ounce, the biggest dip in two weeks.
US markets were closed on Monday in observance of the Presidents’ Day holiday. On Friday, US stocks listed on the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russell 2000 extended a rebound to a sixth day, capping their best five-day performance in five years.
New indictments related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections led to stocks paring back the stronger advance seen in the previous days, with the NASDAQ Composite—which tends to react most strongly when investors flip the risk switch to either on or off—the only major US index that ended the day lower, thus breaking a five-day winning streak. Growth stocks were sold off, including Technology stocks, in favor of defensive stocks and safe havens.
The Russian government called for increasing regulations on cryptocurrencies. Augustin Carstens, general manager at the Bank of International Settlements, where central banks hold their accounts, slammed the alt currency earlier in the month as “a combination of a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster.”
Technically, the price of Bitcoin reached the top of a falling channel, where supply has been overcoming demand since December.
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