Tag: Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.Q18.E)

Hello traders everywhere. The stock market is trading lower Wednesday after the Trump administration announced that is unleashing a new wave of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The tariffs won't come into effect immediately but instead face a review process, with hearings taking place in mid-to-late August. The announcement came just days after both nations imposed $34 billion worth of tariffs on each other.

The Dow has fallen over 190 points as we enter afternoon trading, with Caterpillar as the biggest decliner. The S&P 500 has dropped 0.65% as energy, materials, and industrials dropped. The Nasdaq also declined 0.60%.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

Continue reading "New Tariffs On Chinese Goods Push Stocks Lower" →

Hello traders everywhere. Banks rally and send the DOW up over 300 pts at it's the highest level today. The reason for the optimism, dissipating trade war fears and high expectations for good earnings with earnings season about to kick off on Friday with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) and Citigroup Inc. (C) reporting on their second quarter of 2018.

Stocks also got a boost from a positive jobs report released on Friday, which revealed that the U.S. economy added 213,000 jobs in June, beating expectations. The news helped divert attention away from the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and its most prominent partners.

Last week, the U.S. slapped tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods. China responded to the tariffs by imposing its retaliatory levies on imports from the States. But that has had little effect on the markets to start the week, and most analysts believe that the "Trade War" has already been priced into the stock market. Continue reading "DOW Jumps As Banks Rally" →

Hello traders everywhere. I'm not referring to the hit song "The Beat Goes On" by The Whispers, but the continuing "Trade War" talk that is putting extreme pressure on the stock market. The latest news out Washington D.C. has put the tech sector in the crosshairs, and that can be seen with the S&P 500 shedding -1.7% and NASDAQ -2.6% on the day so far, issuing new red weekly Trade Triangles that I highlighted last week. In fact, the move lower has pushed the DOW down over 400 pts issuing and new red weekly Trade Triangle as well indicating that the downtrend is gaining momentum and strength to the downside.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that the President would use the wide-reaching International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to invoke national security concerns to limit the ability of China-owned or China-backed firms to invest in U.S. companies that are linked to "industrially significant" U.S. technology. The reports also said that the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments, as well as the National Security Council, was drafting plans to introduce "enhanced" export controls, that could be unveiled as early as this week, to keep American technology from finding its way to China.

Harley-Davidson is also making news today with shares falling over 4% after the company announced it would shift production of motorcycles headed for Europe to factories outside the U.S. The company sold nearly 40,000 bikes to the European Union, second only to the U.S.

Shares of chipmakers Micron Technology and AMD all fell at least -7%. Boeing, Caterpillar and General Motors, all companies with significant exposure to China, also dropped by -2.8%, -2.9% and -1.5, respectively. Boeing, Caterpillar, and GM were also on track to post substantial monthly losses.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

Continue reading "The Beat Goes On" →

Hello traders everywhere. The dominant topic of the week has been the escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports and Beijing vowed to retaliate. But the market got a bit of a reprieve on Friday after OPEC agreed to a modest increase in crude oil production at their meeting in Vienna.

That move by OPEC helped the Dow Jones Industrial avoid what was shaping up to be it's worst daily loss (9 days) record in nearly forty years. The decision by OPEC has let the DOW post a daily gain led by the energy stocks, but it's still posting a weekly loss of -1.86% on the week, its second weekly loss of the month. Much like the DOW the S&P 500 is posting a weekly loss of -.70% and the NASDAQ has joined the weekly loss party for the first time in four weeks with a loos -.59% on recent weakness on Friday.

Crude oil has jumped +5.6% on the week, but most of those gains are from today as it jumped +4.4% after news of the OPEC decision. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other top crude producers, meeting in Vienna, agreed to raise output from July by about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) after its de facto leader Saudi Arabia persuaded Iran to cooperate in efforts to reduce the crude price and avoid a supply shortage.

The real increase, however, will be between 600,000 to 800,000 bpd because several countries that recently suffered production declines will struggle to reach full quotas, while other producers may not be able to fill the gap in production.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

Continue reading "Escalating Trade Tensions and Oil Production" →