Stocks Rise On Slowing Inflation Report

The Fed's preferred inflation gauge's core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 4.9% from a year ago in April, in line with estimates and a deceleration from March when the inflation gauge stood at 5.2%. While still elevated, the report indicates that price pressures could be easing a bit, as reported by the Commerce Department reported Friday.

However, the report/number excludes volatile food and energy prices that have significantly contributed to inflation running around a 40-year peak. If you include food and energy, headline PCE increased 6.3% in April from a year ago. That also was a deceleration from the 6.6% pace in the previous month. However, the monthly change showed a more marked pullback, increasing just 0.2% compared with the 0.9% surge in March. Continue reading "Stocks Rise On Slowing Inflation Report"

Gold Posts Solid Gains For The Week

Gold prices closed higher on the day and the week resulting in solid gains. As of 5:50 PM, ET gold futures basis most active June contract is currently up $3.90 or 0.21%, fixed at $1845.10. Considering that gold futures traded to a low this week of $1785 and closed near the highest value this week of $1848.60, it had a good week.

Gold pricing had been under pressure for the fourth consecutive week before this week's trading activity resulting in defined technical chart damage with it breaking below its 200-day moving average last Thursday, May 12. This week's low occurred on Monday, May 16, when prices hit a low of $1785 and traded to a high of $1825 before closing above its opening price on Monday and above Friday's closing price at $1813.60. On Tuesday, gold traded to a higher high and a higher low than Monday, even though gold closed fractionally lower than its opening price. On Wednesday, gold traded to a lower low and a lower high than Tuesday's price action, but that all changed on Thursday. Continue reading "Gold Posts Solid Gains For The Week"

S&P 500 Flirts With Bear Market

The S&P 500 and stock market were under heavy pressure in early trading as the "R" word was thrown around. The S&P 500 was down as much as -2.3% earlier in the session. At the day's lows, the S&P 500 was -20.9% below its intraday high in January, which would signal an entry into a bear market.

There's no official bear market designation on Wall Street. Some will count Friday's decline at the intraday lows as confirmation of a bear market, whereas some may say it's not official until it closes -20% off its high. Regardless, it's the biggest downturn of this magnitude since the rapid bear market in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

The S&P 500 finished +0.01% higher to 3,901.36 on Friday. The DOW rose 8.77 points, or +0.03%, to 31,261.90, and the NASDAQ fell -0.30% to finish the week at 11,354.62. Continue reading "S&P 500 Flirts With Bear Market"

Gold Suffers Its Fourth Straight Week Of Declines

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Gold opened at $1977 on Monday, April 18, and this would mark the beginning of four consecutive weekly declines. As of 5:10 PM EDT gold futures basis, the most active June 2022 Comex contract is fixed at $1810.30 after factoring in today’s decline of $14.30 or 0.78%. Today’s decline in gold occurred without the benefit of dollar strength. The dollar index declined by 0.36% and is currently fixed at 104.515

Kitco Gold Index (KGX)

The image above is a screen-print of the KGX (Kitco Gold Index) which was taken at 4:37 PM EDT. At that time spot gold was fixed at $1810.80 after factoring in a decline of $10.70. Market participants were active sellers resulting in a $14.30 price decline. Dollar weakness provided mild tailwinds adding $3.60 (+0.20%) in value. Continue reading "Gold Suffers Its Fourth Straight Week Of Declines"

Bitcoin Falls For Its 6th Straight Week

Bitcoin fought hard to stay around the 30K level on Friday but fell just below that level as the stock market closed on Friday, trading in the 29K range. Unfortunately, it was also unable to escape the crypto bears grip this week, trading as low as 25,401.05, and will end up having its sixth straight week of declines, a record run. The last time it traded this low was in December of 2020.

As for stocks, the market rebounded Friday after suffering heavy losses on the week, with the DOW rising 466.36 points to 32,196.66, or +1.47%. The S&P 500 gained +2.39% to close at 4,023.89, and the NASDAQ jumped +3.82% to end the week at 11,805.00. Continue reading "Bitcoin Falls For Its 6th Straight Week"