Asian Morning Brief APR 24 FRI

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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Asian Morning Brief: APR 24 (FRI)

On Thursday U.S. stocks pared early gains of over 1% to close mixed. Sentiment was dampened by reports that Gilead Sciences' (GILD -4.3%) experimental drug remdesivir might not be an effective treatment for coronavirus.      

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 39 points higher (+0.2%) at 23,515, the S&P 500 edged down one point to 2,797, while the Nasdaq 100 eased 23 points (-0.3%) to 8,641.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Index: Daily Chart


Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView


Energy (+3.01%), Transportation (+2.03%) and Automobiles & Components (+1.53%) sectors performed the best, while Utilities (-1.76%), Insurance (-1.57%) and Food & Staples Retailing (-1.55%) lagged behind.

Cimarex Energy (XEC +12.5%), Apache (APA +11.5%), Alliance Data Systems (ADS +10.1%), Wynn Resorts (WYNN +8.6%) and Las Vegas Sands (LVS +12.0%) were among the biggest gainers.
 
Invesco (IVZ -21.1%), TechnipFMC (FTI -6.7%) and Seagate Technology (STX -5.6%) were down significantly. 

On the technical side, about 21.0% (17.4% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average, and 74.5% (66.5% in the prior session) were above their 20-day moving average.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of Initial Jobless Claims fell to 4.427 million in the week ended April 18 (4.500 million expected).

The Markit U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (preliminary reading) dropped to 36.9 in April (35.0 expected). New Home Sales slipped to an annualized rate of 627,000 in March (644,000 expected).

Later today, March Durable Goods Orders (preliminary reading, -12.0% on month expected) and the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index (67.9 for April expected) will be reported.

European stocks remained firm, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index adding 0.9%. Both Germany's DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.0%, and France's CAC was up 0.9%.

U.S. Treasury prices stabilized, as the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped to 0.609% from 0.618% Wednesday.

Spot gold jumped 17 dollars (+1.0%) to $1,731 an ounce.

Oil prices staged large-percentage rebounds again. U.S. WTI crude oil futures jumped 20.0% to $16.50 a barrel, and Brent crude oil futures rose 4.7% to $21.33 a barrel.

Related tags: Commodities Equities Indices

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