Market Summary: The long and the short of it.
U.S. markets: President Trump tossed a spanner into the markets on Friday. Confirming Peter Navarro‘s warnings, the President tweeted that he has not agreed to rollback tariffs with China, thus refuting Larry Kudlow’s comments. Navarro 1:0 Kudlow.
The markets subsequently fell at the open and it was not until late in the afternoon session that a slight uptick pushed the S&P 500 into the green. The index posted an increase of 75 basis points for the week on Friday and marked the third closing high logged in the last five trading sessions. The S&P 500 closed at a record high of 3,093, for a gain on the day of +0.26%. The New York Composite (NYA) closed out the week at 13,402 for a gain of +0.09%. The NYA is still 230 points shy of its record set in January 2018.
The rout in U.S. treasuries continued for the week, with the 10-year yield edging towards 1.94%, while the 30-year yield was up to 2.41%. Both the 10-year and the 30-year hit more than a three-month high.
Gold fell to $1,459 an ounce to finish the week with a fleshy -4.5% wound. Silver, on the other hand, suffered a -7.63% beating for the week, to close at $16.76 an ounce. Crude Oil (WTI) managed to avoid all the violence and finished the week at $57.44 a barrel, or a gain of +2.43% for the week.
Asian markets finished mixed as of the close of markets. The Japanese (Nikkei 225) gained +0.26%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led the Chinese Shanghai Composite lower. They fell -0.70% and -0.49% respectively.
European markets finished lower on Friday with shares in London leading the region. The UK’s FTSE 100 was down -0.63% while the German DAX dipped -0.46% and France’s CAC 40 closed out -0.02%.
South and Central American markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. Brazil’s Bovespa led Mexico’s IPC lower, they fell -1.78% and -0.95% respectively.
Cryptos had a tough week with Bitcoin sliding into Friday’s close to end the week at 8845 for a loss of -4.13%.
Despite several asset classes performing quite poorly into the close of the week, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) or fear gauge did not reflect any anxiety shown by market participants and finished the week in the doldrums at 12.07 and down -1.78% for the week.