The US dollar traded almost flat against other major currencies on average on Thursday, the performance of the USDX index showed, while the AUD/USD and NZD/USD pair continued to rally to fresh two-month highs.
Major cryptos gave up some of their intraday gains after hitting a high around midday GMT when Bitcoin traded near $25,000 while Ethereum was just under $1,950. A slightly stronger retracement could be observed for some altcoins such as Avalanche and Polkadot. The total estimated crypto market cap fell below the $1.2 trillion mark again.
Stock market indices in Europe and the US were up very little at the close, with markets such as the US 500, France 40 and Germany 40 ending the day almost unchanged. Some Asian markets, such as the China A50, up more than 1.5% on Thursday, and the Japan 225 (yen), saw strong bullishness as the index surged to a new high since January.
Euro zone industrial production data will be released on Friday. Expect US import and export price stats, as well as the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey.
GBP/USD
The GBP/USD pair traded fairly steady during the morning hours on Friday, seeing only a brief and relatively small rise as key economic fundamentals were released as the rate stayed close to 1.22. Q2 GDP data was not as bad as some had expected, with real GDP contracting quarter-on-quarter at just 0.1%, while the UK economy still grew 0.8% in the first quarter. The increased cost of living was a factor that also affected the economy.
Other fundamentals were somewhat mixed, with industrial production improving to 2.4% yoy growth (previously +1.4%) while manufacturing output grew just 1.3% yoy (previously +2, 3%).
Next week on Tuesday the UK unemployment rate statistics for July will be released.
gold
Gold and silver prices traded moderately lower on Thursday, while gold prices are set to end higher this week for the fourth straight week. Platinum and palladium prices, meanwhile, continued to climb, with platinum hitting a fresh eight-week high while palladium prices hit a fresh three-month high.
As every week, the US CFTC releases its weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) statistics on Friday, which also include the speculative net positions of many futures markets. Last week, the number of net positions in gold futures rebounded strongly after recently hitting a new low since 2019.
WTI oil
Oil prices rose again on Thursday, sending the WTI Crude Oil CFD well on course to end the week in a significant gain – on course for its best weekly performance in at least three months.
OPEC’s monthly oil market report may have contributed to the recent market move, as the report released on Thursday indicated that the organization expects the global oil market to enter a surplus situation in the current quarter and that the current economic climate could reduce aggregate demand. On the other hand, monthly oil statistics for the OECD countries, also released by the IEA on Thursday, indicated an increase in demand forecasts, which was also partly driven by higher natural gas prices, as Bloomberg reported.
As usual, the weekly US Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count statistics will be released on Friday. According to this statistic, the number of operating oil rigs has decreased by seven in the past week.
US 500
Major stock market indices such as the US 500 and US Tech 100 peaked during the first hour of regular trading on Thursday, hitting their respective three-month highs by then, but later declined to end the day almost unchanged. On a weekly basis, the US 500 remains on track to end the week in profit for the fourth consecutive week.
Most notably, companies in the energy sector (US Energy ETF +3.45%) outperformed the market, with the three best-performing S&P 500 index constituents coming from this sector, including Schlumberger (+5.56%).
Walt Disney was also among the best-performing stocks on the day as the stock price rallied following better-than-expected quarterly results, especially given strong performance from Disney+ subscribers.
Earnings season continues, DouYu will release its quarterly earnings on Monday next week, and on Tuesday earnings from Walmart, Home Depot, Sea and others will be released.
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