- European indices finished today's session higher. DAX recorded a 0.4% weekly loss, however added 0.76% on Friday. The sentiment was supported by optimism about China's reopening.
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Chinese authorities said the worst was over in its battle against COVID-19 ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, which is expected to be the busiest day of travel in years on Friday.
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Lagarde reaffirmed her hawkish stance during her appearance at the WEF. ECB's Holzmann expects multiple rate hikes of 50 basis point at least in the 1H of 2023
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FTSE100 rose 0.30%, while British retail sales fell by 1% in December, missing analysts’ estimates of a 0.5% rise.
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Major Wall Street indices launched an upward move on Friday mainly boosted by Chinese stocks and tech sector. Dow Jones is trading 0.205 higher, while S&P500 and Nasdaq rose 0.70% and 1.3% respectively.
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Netflix stock jumped over 7.0% as higher than expected subscriber numbers overshadowed weak Q4 earnings. Markets also welcomed news that Alphabet plans massive layoffs.
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Goldman Sachs stock fell over 3.0% as FED will take a closer look at recent activities of Goldman's retail banking division.
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However hawkish comments from several FED members put a cap on upward potential. Fed's Waller favors a 25 bp rate hike at the upcoming meeting, followed by additional policy tightening. In his opinion Fed will have to keep rates high and not cut by year end
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Fed's George expects inflationary pressures are expected to persist, while rates are not yet at a restrictive level. The Fed must be more patient in determining whether inflation is on a sustainable downward path
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Meanwhile Williams believes that the US central bank must maintain its current policy until inflation returns to 2%, however sees indicators that inflationary pressures are beginning to ease.
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US existing home sales recorded another fall (sales) in December, but less than expected
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The Japanese yen is the worst performing G10 currency today as the head of BoJ provided another set of dovish comments in Davos. Following his comments USDJPY tested 130.00 level, however sellers managed to erase some losses later in the session.
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Oil is highly volatile today and is currently gaining more than 1% boosted by positive news from China. Gold pulled back from its recent high at $1938 an ounce, but is likely to end the week above $1,920 an ounce. Silver failed to break above resistance zone around $24.00 per ounce
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NATGAS price continues to move lower and approaches key support around $3.0, despite colder weather forecasts. Meanwhile gas prices in Europe were rising as temperatures are expected to rise.
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Upbeat sentiment prevails also on the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin returned to recent highs around $21300, while Ethereum approaches psychological resistance at $1600.
USDCAD pulled back sharply yesterday as buyers failed to break below the major resistance zone at 1.3520, which is marked with previous price reactions and 38.25 Fibonacci retracement of the downward wav launched in October 2022. On Friday pair broke below important support at 1.3410 and if current sentiment prevails, next support at 1.3320 may be at risk. Source: xStation5
