Fresh fears in the Middle East appear to be the driving force this week as stock markets underperform and gold and oil continue to see modest inflows.
Gold appears to have lost its indecisiveness from earlier in the week, showing strength on Wednesday and Thursday, gaining 1.28% and 1.35% respectively to close at $1974. It is now up 9% since the same time two weeks ago. Brent Crude also did well in the mid-week, touching $93 a barrel yesterday.
The performance in stocks wasn’t so thrilling. The Hang Seng lost 2.46% yesterday, now sitting precariously just above levels not seen since November of last year. The Nikkei didn’t fare much better, itself losing 1.91% on Thursday. The downward momentum later spread into Europe, where the FTSE lost almost 200 points over the last two days. The DAX fell 1% on Wednesday and another 0.33% yesterday, now just above lows not seen since March. If the German index is just above a technical support level, then the French CAC40 may have already lost it, closing at 6921 after losing 100 points the previous two days.
No attempt to buck the trend on the other side of the Atlantic. The NASDAQ Composite lost almost 2% between Wednesday and Thursday, ending the day on 13,186. Almost identical performance by the S&P which fell down to 4278. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.6% over the past two days to finish at 33,414.
Currencies continue to be undecided this week, although overall sentiment seems to put the USD at least partially on the front foot. USDJPY continues to push against the 150 yen mark, no breakout as of yet. EUR and GBP both range bound. Hopes of eventual interest rate decreases have further faded this week as Jerome Powell indicated inflation is still too high.
