Asia Morning Nov 17

On Monday, U.S. stocks maintained upward momentum pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+470 points or 1.60% to 29950) and the S&P 500 (+41 points or 1.16% to 3626) to record levels. The Nasdaq 100 rose 75 points (+0.63%) to 12013.

At the same time, the Russell 2000 Index (+41 points or 2.37% to 1785) also closed at record high.


S&P 500 Index (Daily Chart) : Fresh Record High

Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView


The key market driver was Moderna's (MRNA +9.58%) announcement of positive trial results of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Energy (+6.5%), Automobiles & Components (+3.01%) and Banks (+2.95%) sectors performed the best. Energy companies such as Schlumberger (SLB +10.89%), National Oilwell Varco (NOV +9.38%) and HollyFrontier (HFC +9.24%) were top gainers along with a 3% gain in as oil prices.

Approximately 87% (82% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 86% (80% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

In after-market hours, Tesla (TSLA) soared over 10% after S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that the stock will join the S&P 500 Index in December.

European stocks were broadly higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.18%, Germany's DAX added 0.47%, France's CAC 40 jumped 1.70%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 1.66%.

U.S. Treasury prices remained under pressure, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed further to 0.904% from 0.893% Friday.

Spot gold edged up to $1,889 an ounce.

Oil prices jumped as economic recovery hopes were boosted by positive news concerning Moderna's vaccine candidate. U.S. WTI crude futures (December) jumped $1.27 (+3.16%) to $41.4 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar kept weakening against other major currencies as investors' risk appetite was enlarged by another positive development on a COVID-19 vaccine. The ICE Dollar Index slipped 0.17% to 92.55.

EUR/USD was up for a third session rising 0.15% to 1.1851.

USD/JPY edged down to 104.58, testing support at its 20-day moving average. Official data showed that Japan's 3Q GDP rose at an annualized rate of 21.4% on quarter (+18.9% expected).

GBP/USD closed flat at 1.3197.

Commodity-related currencies strengthened against the greenback. AUD/USD jumped 0.69% to 0.7320, up for a second session. 

USD/CAD slid 0.48% to 1.3074.