Bank of England surprised market participants with a 50bps rate hike while forecasts only pointed to 25 bps. The central bank raised key interest rates from 4.50% to 5.00% to fight inflation, this level is the highest since 2008. The British pound reacted positively following the release, reaching a high of 1.2845, representing strong technical resistance from last week before retreating and ending the day near the 1.2750 mark.
In the U.S., existing home sales both existing home sales and unemployment claims came out above expectations. Looking at the recent move in the U.S. market, stocks managed to recover on Thursday ending a three-day losing streak. The S&P500 advanced 0.37%, and the Nasdaq climbed 0.95% fueled by another rally in technology stocks. Big names like Tesla, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple closed higher yesterday with Apple reaching a new intraday all-time high.
Meanwhile, the Dow finished near the flatline losing 0.01%.
On the other side, the U.S. Dollar rose following strong economic data alongside expectations of extended tighter monetary policy from the FED. The greenback advance weighed on Gold prices which extended their decline reaching new lowest levels for this month after sellers succeeded to push prices below the 1930 key support mentioned in our previous reports.
Gold’s technical picture is bearish in the short term and prices are expected to target the psychological support of $1900 in the near future.
In the meantime, oil prices faced strong selling pressure yesterday after a strong rejection from the short-term resistance of $72.50 a barrel. WTI dropped below the 69.80 support which can lead to more downside toward the 67.00 handle in the coming days.
Therefore, any potential rebound in prices is likely to be short-lived as the bearish momentum has increased.
Looking at today’s important economic releases, analysts expect a rise in the U.S. manufacturing PMI from 48.4 to 48.6, on the flip side, services PMI is expected to have declined from 54.9 to 53.9.
Economic Analyst
Amine Hiani