STATE OF THE MARKETS

Stocks higher on short-covering. Major US indexes edged higher on Thursday as bears covered their shorts with Dow (+0.41%), S&P (+0.12%) and Russell (+1.06%) on the uptick; while Nasdaq (-0.01%) trading relatively flat ahead of the Memorial Day holiday. Bonds markets saw a sell-off, sending 5Y (0.82%), 10Y (1.61%) and 30Y (2.31%) yields higher as markets reacted to the new infrastructure spending plan.

Crude futures continued its upward trajectory, closed above $67.30/bl, after reports of gradual Iranian supply would not create a glut in demand. Gold lost bid, settled below $1,897/oz as New York closed, after yields seeking investors ran to Dollar bonds safety.

King Dollar was on firmed bid, sustained on the 90 mark, though weaker on the short-term as investors locked into long dated bonds. Safe haven Swiss and Yen was seen synching across all horizons, while Pound and Aussie synching in the medium and long term accounts on month end rebalancing. Euro remained offered while Kiwi remained bid as Loonie trading all over the place.

OUR PICK – No New Picks

No new picks going into the weekend. What a bullish week for stocks this week as major US indexes did not even make a pullback to the low of last week and buy/sell ratio was above 1.86; led by finance, transportation related sectors, basic materials, energy and consumers related sectors. The irony is we still have net outflows of $1.19 billion albeit at a slower rate for the past six weeks. Obviously, long term investors continue to take profits on every rally and dump it into short term money markets at a larger amount. The trend of net inflows to short term money markets for the past three weeks has been in the figure of $6.12 billion to $25.19 billion and $65.61 billion this week. We leave it at that.

Trades updates:  We remain bullish PFE and will continue to accumulate on dip, Crude, NZD/USD and EUR/GBP were stopped out, we look to close MO around $48.50, we remain bullish AUY and will re-entry if stopped, and AUD/USD stop is updated to breakeven.

Disclaimer:

This article is for general information purpose only. It is not an investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Opinions expressed are of the authors and not necessarily of MFM Securities Limited or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.