Morning wrap (11.01.2022)

• US indices took a hit at the beginning of the Wall Street session yesterday. However, the majority of losses were erased by the end of the session. S&P 500 dropped 0.14%, Dow Jones moved 0.45% lower and Russell 2000 declined 0.40%

• Nasdaq erased an almost 3% drop to finish the session 0.05% higher

• Stocks in Asia traded mostly lower. Nikkei dropped 0.9%, S&P/ASX 200 moved almost 0.8% lower while Kospi traded flat. Indices from China dropped

• DAX futures point to a higher opening of the European cash session today

• According to released text of Powell's speech at today's confirmation hearings in US Senate, Fed chair will note that the economy is expanding at the fastest pace in year in spite of Covid pandemic

• Fed Vice Chair Clarida will leave Fed on January 14 instead of January 30 as was planned earlier. HIs departure is linked to involvement in Fed's trading scandal

• A partial lockdown was imposed in Tianjin, CHina. Restrictions in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou were tightened. Chinese authorities decided to suspend part of flights from US to China

• According to Bloomberg report, Pfizer is developing a vaccine that will be effective against Omicron as well as previous coronavirus variants

• Australian retail sales increased 7.3% MoM in November (exp. 3.9% MoM)

• South Korean exports increased 24.4% YoY while imports were 57.1% YoY higher during the first 10 days of January. Semiconductors exports were 23.3% YoY higher

• Bitcoin dropped below $40,000 yesterday in the afternoon while Ethereum moved below $3,000. However, both coins managed to recover later on

• Precious metals and oil trade higher. Industrial metals decline

• EUR and CAD are the best performing major currencies while JPY and CHF lag the most

Nasdaq-100 (US100) experienced a steep drop at the start of US session yesterday and dropped to 15,150 pts area. However, recovery was also quick and the index managed to recover the bulk of losses. Upward move was halted at the 50-hour moving average (green line) and a pullback towards the 23.6% retracement of recent downward impulse cannot be ruled out. Source: xStation5