US Market Update: Markets quiet following reopening of US equity trade
***Economic Data*** - (RU) Russia Gold and Forex Reserve w/e Dec 20th: $508.5B v $512.7B prior - (US) Initial Jobless Claims: 338K v 347Ke; Continuing Claims: 2.923M v 2.82Me - (MX) Mexico Nov Preliminary Trade Balance: +$339M v -$742.0Me
Fixed Income: - None Seen
Holiday season trade remained light in the early going with both Europe and Canada closed. US equities are broadly higher following the the DJIA and S&P 500 indices recording high closes on Christmas eve. Nasdaq +0.2%, DJIA +0.34%, and the S&P 500 +0.2%.
Initial jobless claims showed a better than expected result as well as the largest decline week over week seen since Nov of 2012. The volatility can be explained by the usual difficulty the labor department has in accounting for seasonal hiring. Following the open of pit trade the metals rose across the board, with Gold +0.8%, Silver, +2.25%, and Copper +0.4%. Crude is marginally higher (+0.2%) despite reports that Iran lawmakers planned to introduce an uranium-enrichment bill which would force the Govt to increase uranium enrichment to 60% if new sanctions are imposed.
Amazon and Mastercard's SpendingPulse both issued holiday season reports which showed year over year improvement in sales metrics. Amazon indicated that it was a 'record setting' holiday season for the Amazon "Prime" service, while SpendingPulse disclosed larger retailers were benefitting more so than smaller retailers during the holiday season; holiday sales +2.3% y/y. Twitter (TWTR) shares continued their recent volatility seen in recent days, again setting all-time highs (since its IPO in November). Shares throughout the early morning have traded within a 5 point range. Shares of Textura (TXTR) have come under attack from a Citron Research report, now down 9% on the day.
- Most FX price action was muted as expected in the session as year-end conditions affected interest. USD saw little reaction but was overall a bit weaker against the crosses despite a better-than-expected weekly claims data. USD/JPY has yet to break above the 105 handle but was hovering around 5-year highs. -The TRY currency (Lira) hit a fresh record low as pair tested above the 2.10 level earlier today. Turkey Econ Min Caglayan speculated that he saw an attempt to create chaos within the country by using the FX rate.
**Looking Ahead*** All times listed for economic events are denominated in Eastern Standard Time (Add 5 hours for GMT equivalent) - 12:00 (FR) France Nov Net Change in Jobseekers: -5.0Ke v -20.5K prior; Total Jobseekers: 3.27Me v 3.275M prior - 14:00 (AR) Argentina Nov Supermarket Sales Y/Y: No est v 18.4% prior; Shop Center Sales Y/Y: No est v 20.4% prior - 16:00 (KR) South Korea Jan Manufacturing Business Survey: No est v 78 prior; Non-Manufacturing Survey: No est v 72 prior - 18:15 (JP) Japan Dec Markit/JMMA Manufacturing PMI: No est v 55.1 prior - 18:30 (JP) Japan Nov Jobless Rate: 3.9%e v 4.0% prior; Job-to-Applicant Ratio 3.9%e v 4.0% prior - 18:30 (JP) Japan Nov National CPI Y/Y: 1.5%e v 1.1% prior; CPI Ex Fresh Food Y/Y: 1.1%e v 0.9% prior; CPI Ex Food, Energy Y/Y: 0.5%e v 0.3% prior - 18:30 (JP) Japan Nov Tokyo CPI Y/Y: 0.9%e v 0.9% prior; CPI Ex Fresh Food Y/Y: 0.7%e v 0.6% prior; CPI Ex Food, Energy Y/Y: 0.3%e v 0.2% prior - 18:50 (JP) Japan Nov Preliminary Industrial Production M/M: 0.4%ev 1.0% prior; Y/Y: 5.4%e v 5.4% prior - 18:50 (JP) Japan Nov Retail Trade M/M: +1.0%e v -1.0% prior; Y/Y: 3.0%e v 2.3% prior - 20:00 (PH) Philippines Oct Trade Balance: -$700Me v -$666M prior; Imports: No est v $5.7B prior; Imports Y/Y: 8.0%e v 7.2% prior - 20:30 (CN) China Nov YTD Industrial Profits Y/Y: No est v 13.7% prior