Asia Morning Nov 25

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks rallied further pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+455 points or 1.54% to 30046) to close above the key 30,000 level for the first time. The S&P 500 increased 57 points (+1.62%) to 3635, also an all-time high.  The Nasdaq 100 rose 173 points (+1.46%) to 12079.


Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (Daily Chart) : Further Adance Above 30,000 Level

Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView


Investors were encouraged by news reports that formal transition for Joe Biden's potential administration has begun, and that Biden would appoint former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his would-be Treasury Secretary. 

Banks (+5.52%), Energy (+5.16%) and Automobiles & Components (+4.66%) sectors were the best performers. Energy companies such as Apache (APA +9.06%), Hess (HES +7.14%), Exxon Mobil (XOM +6.66%) and Chevron (CVX +5.04%) surged for a second day as oil prices jumped over 4%.

Dollar Tree (DLTR +13.63%), Mosaic (MOS +12.49%) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM +4.62%) also saw significant gains in share prices.   

Approximately 90% (89% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 80% (79% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index report, U.S. home prices rose 6.6% on year in September, the biggest increase since April 2018.

European stocks also gained. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.91%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.26%, France's CAC 40 increased 1.21%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 1.55%.

U.S. Treasury prices slid as investors' risk appetite expanded further. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 0.882% from 0.854% Monday.

Spot gold shed $31 (-1.69%) to $1,806 an ounce.

U.S. WTI crude futures (January) jumped $1.82 (+4.23%) to $44.88 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar resumed weakness against other major currencies as investors felt comfortable to bid for riskier assets. The ICE Dollar Index sank 0.39% to 92.14.

Commodity-related currencies benefited from oil prices' surge. NZD/USD hit 0.7000 for the first time since June 2018, as it was widely expected that New Zealand may not see further interest-rate cuts. 

AUD/USD gained 1.02% to 0.7360, while USD/CAD slipped from the key 1.3000 level. 

EUR/USD rose 0.43% to 1.1892 ending a two-day decline.

GBP/USD climbed 0.34% to 1.3359 posting a three-day rally.

USD/JPY eased to 104.44 from 104.53 in the prior session, and USD/CHF declined 0.16% to 0.9112.