■U.S. markets advance on Trump’s tax cut wording
â– Dow Jones pulls ahead of 20K point mark, adding 1% weekly
â– Bitcoin drops over USD 100 as China exchanges halt withdrawals
â– Oil recovers initial losses as OPEC deal proves resilient
â– EUR/USD recedes to 1.0643, on Le Pen victory woes
Optimism, often a rare commodity in the markets, proved fairly abundant in last week’s session, led by president Trump stating that the administration is planning a corporate tax announcement over the next few weeks. U.S. equity investors have been particularly fortunate this week, in what appears as a fairly strong earnings season. The S&P 500 climbed to yet another record of 2,316.10 points, as it gains 0.8% weekly. The Dow, similarly added a percentage point for the week, to 20,269.37 points.
Positive sentiment was also boosted globally, after president Trump was said to back the “One China†policy, in a phone call with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Also on the Chinese front, January Trade Balance data, released on Friday, pointed to a 16.7% annual gain of imports to the country, far exceeding December’s +3.1%. The Hang Seng Index opened Friday’s session adding an excess of 0.8%, but later moderated to more modest gains. Weekly increase for the index summed to 1.9%, which was somewhat toned down by a 0.9% depreciation of the Yuan vs. the Dollar.
Gold prices did suffer a significant selloff between Thursday and Friday, amid the global search for yield. A recovery towards the weekend, however, has aided the metal of kings to a 1.1% weekly increase. The same, however, cannot be said for Bitcoin, with the crypto-currency suffering a major selloff on Thursday, leading it to drop some USD 100, on news that Chinese exchanges have disabled withdrawals after meeting with the People’s Bank of China, a move hinting that the central bank is pushing to limit bitcoin activity. Here too, however, a small recovery was made towards the end of the week, seeing prices recover to USD 1,004.03.
