Gold prices continue to retreat and dipped under the $2,000/oz in recent trading
Wall Street stocks finished mixed on Monday, with the Nasdaq lagging behind its counterparts as tech stocks remained on the defensive amid investor worries about potential tit-for-tat steps from China. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 lost 0.5% while the S&P 500 approached its all-time high during the session, as investors continued to cheer the reports that President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to maintain some assistance, including for unemployment benefits, a temporary payroll tax deferral, eviction protections, and student-loan relief.
In Asia, stocks were mostly higher on Tuesday despite the ongoing US-China trade tensions. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up nearly 1% as investors are awaiting a meeting between top U.S. and Chinese trade officials due on Saturday.
European stocks rallied early on Tuesday, digesting signs of slowing spread of the coronavirus and lingering hopes for a new round of U.S. stimulus. New cases have fallen 18% over the last 14 days and new deaths have dropped 6%. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.7%. On the data front, the U.K. unemployment rate stayed flat at 3.9% in the second quarter. The FTSE 100 index rallied 2.20% since the start of the session.
Meanwhile, the dollar turned mixed today, with the euro and sterling seeing a mild bullish intraday bias while USDJPY keeps recovering but still struggling to break the 20-DMA that continues to act as the immediate strong resistance. The fact that the pair made another failed attempt to break this hurdle points to a lack of upside impetus and the possibility of another sell-off should risk sentiment deteriorate in the short term.
Elsewhere, gold prices continue to retreat and dipped under the $2,000/oz in recent trading, having accelerated its bearish correction amid a stronger dollar in combination with risk-on tone in the global markets. Now, the next support arrives at $1,975 while the mentioned psychological level has turned into resistance.
