Daily Market View-U.S Stock Market-The S&P 500 hit a record high yesterday, lifted by Tesla

The S&P 500 hit a record high yesterday, lifted by Tesla and bank stocks as investors awaited the start of the second-quarter earnings season and a batch of economic data. The NASDAQ also hit an all-time high before receding into negative territory. Seven of the 11 major S&P sector indexes advanced; financials and real estate led the way. Tesla jumped 3.6%. Tesla CEO Elon Musk insisted in court on Monday he does not control Tesla and said he did not enjoy being the electric vehicle company’s chief executive as he took the stand to defend the company’s 2016 acquisition of SolarCity. JPMorgan Chase added almost 2%, and the two shares contributed more to the S&P 500’s gains than any other stocks. Focus this week will also be on a series of economic reports, including headline U.S inflation data and retail sales. As well, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to appear before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday for views on inflation.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

 The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.36% to hit a new all-time high. The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company., which rose 4.20% or 7.43 points to trade at 184.47 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added 2.35% or 8.74 points to end at 380.50 and JPMorgan Chase & Co was up 1.64% or 2.55 points to 158.32 in late trade. The biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc., which lost 0.91% or 0.49 points to trade at 53.25 in late trade. Salesforce.com Inc. declined 0.89% or 2.18 points to end at 242.88 and Boeing Co shed 0.59% or 1.41 points to 238.18.

NASDAQ 100

 The NASDAQ index gained 0.21%. The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Mediaco Holding Inc. which rose 311.86% to 17.010, State Auto Financial Corporation which was up 191.43% to settle at 50.30 and SGOCO Group Ltd which gained 103.58% to close at 19.930. The worst performers were Toughbuilt Industries Inc. which was down 33.01% to 0.7034 in late trade, UTStarcom Holdings Corp which lost 20.41% to settle at 1.5600 and Newegg Commerce Inc. which was down 19.13% to 37.76 at the close.

Oil

Oil slumped today over concerns about spreading COVID-19 variants derailing the global economic recovery that has brought fuel demand to near pre-pandemic levels, while tight crude supplies kept prices from falling lower. U.S West Texas Intermediate crude for August settled at $74.10 a barrel, down 46 cents, or 0.6%. Tokyo re-imposed pandemic-related restrictions due to concerns over coronavirus infections, less than two weeks before the city hosts the Summer Olympic Games. The spread of new variants and unequal access to vaccines threaten the global economic recovery, finance chiefs of the G20 large economies said over the weekend. The remarks weighed on the oil demand outlook. Traders are now refocusing on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and global concerns over the new variants' expansion. Helping to limit oil price losses, stockpiles in the biggest crude producing nation continued to tighten, with U.S inventories falling to the lowest since February 2020 in the week to July 2.

Precious and Base Metals

Gold prices fell yesterday, set for their biggest drop in nearly two weeks, as a bounce in dollar and buoyant equities dimmed the safe-haven metal’s appeal. Spot gold fell 0.4% to $1,800.96 per ounce. U.S gold futures dropped 0.6% to $1,799.30 per ounce. While there have been some concerns over the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, the more optimistic side of the market sees this as temporary and thinks economic growth and inflationary pressures might return sooner, preventing any sort of convincing recovery in gold prices in the near term. Asian shares rallied after Wall Street posted record closing highs on Friday, while the dollar index inched up 0.1% after declining for two sessions. The bullion was likely to draw support from lingering Delta variant concerns that could hamper the pace of global economic recovery and persistent loose monetary policies. Market participants now await U.S data including consumer price index today, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony on Wednesday and Thursday for cues on the timeline for policy tightening. A surprise hawkish tilt by the Fed had sent gold in June to its worst month since November 2016. Higher interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which pays no interest. On the technical front, spot gold still targets $1,789 per ounce, as it failed a few times to break a resistance zone of $1,813-$1,818. Among other precious metals, silver fell 0.4% to $25.98 per ounce, palladium eased 0.2% to $2,802.68 per ounce and platinum dropped 0.9% to $1,093.58. Copper rose today on top metals consumer China’s move to boost liquidity, while a steady dollar ahead of U.S inflation data kept London prices under pressure. China will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, releasing around 1 trillion yuan in long-term liquidity to underpin its post-COVID economic recovery that is starting to lose momentum.

Traditional Agricultures

Corn futures rose yesterday following heavy falls last week as traders readied for a closely-watched world supply and demand report from the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA). Forecasts of hotter U.S weather also supported corn. Soybeans were firm and wheat was little changed.

Disclaimer

This information has been prepared for information only and does not constitute an offer or commitment. This information does not constitute investment advice as defined by the rules of the FCA.