Asia Morning nov 26

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 173 points (-0.58%) to 29872, the S&P 500 fell 5 points (-0.16%) to 3629, while the Nasdaq 100 advanced 72 points (+0.60%) to 12152.


S&P 500 Index (Daily Chart) : Further Upside Expected

Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView


Investors were surprised by an unexpected jump in weekly jobless claims. The U.S. Labor Department reported that latest initial jobless claims rose to 778,000 (730,000 expected).

Retailing (+1.05%), Technology Hardware & Equipment (+0.47%) and Household & Personal Products (+0.41%) sectors were the best performers, while Automobiles & Components (-2.82%), Energy (-2.42%) and Materials (-1.08%) sectors lagged behind. Nordstrom Inc (JWN +11.65%), Autodesk (ADSK +4.74%) and PayPal (PYPL +4.11%) were top gainers, Gap (GPS -19.61%), Salesforce.com (CRM -5.37%) and Ford Motor (F -3.86%) were top losers.   

Approximately 92% (90% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 84% (80% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

U.S. official data showed that durable goods orders (preliminary reading) increased 1.3% on month in October (+0.8% expected). Personal income dropped 0.7% on month in October (-0.1% expected) and personal spending rose 0.5% (+0.4% expected),  

New home sales declined to an annualized rate of 999,000 units in October (975,000 units expected).

U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

European stocks also closed mixed. The Stoxx Europe 600 dipped 0.08%, Germany's DAX was little changed, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.64%, while France's CAC 40 gained 0.23%.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield ticked lower to 0.877% from 0.882% Tuesday.

Spot gold eased a further $2 (-0.11%) to $1,805 an ounce.

Oil prices were lifted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration report that crude-oil stockpiles fell 754,000 barrels last week (+225,000 barrels expected). U.S. WTI crude futures (January) jumped $0.91 (+2.03%) to $45.82 a barrel. 

The U.S. dollar remained subdued against other major currencies, as the ICE Dollar Index struggled at levels around the key 92.00 level.

EUR/USD regained the key 1.1900 level as it advanced 0.22% to 1.1917, the highest close since August 31.

GBP/USD added 0.12% to 1.3375 extending its rally to a fourth session.

USD/JPY was little changed at 104.46, while USD/CHF sank 0.33% to 0.9082.

AUD/USD edged higher to 0.7365.