Markets at a Glance: Dow Jones up New Records
On Thursday, a new trading session closed with positive numbers, especially for the Dow Jones. The index broke records for another time this week. The rise in the US 20-year bond yields and the rise in technology stocks contributed in large part to this. On Friday, global stocks traded close to record levels after Wall Street market posted gains due to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statement that the central bank can revive the economy without causing inflation.
Although most markets closed flat, concerns about US unemployment figures which unexpectedly climbed to 744,000, along with the global vaccination process, remain at the forefront of investors’ minds. This concern can be seen in a slightly weaker dollar, especially against: the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, the pound sterling, and the Canadian dollar. Traders are watching the Canadian dollar closely as Canadian employment data is due to be released today, Friday.
On the other hand, commodities remain stable, highlighting the increase in oil perhaps due to Saudi Arabia’s support for the OPEC+ plan to boost output. On Friday, oil drew close to $60 a barrel.
As for metals, both gold and silver experienced fluctuations during Thursday’s trading session. The U.S. jobless claims pushed gold towards a weekly gain of over 1% while silver could be recording its largest weekly gain in four weeks.
China’s Factory Inflation
China is witnessing its fastest factory inflation since 2018 and is adding to concerns about price pressures as China’s producer prices increased the most since July 2018.China is the world’s biggest exporter and rising prices in the economy threaten to fuel global inflation further amid a stronger world economy recovery, big fiscal stimulus support in the US and climbing shipping costs.
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