U.S. Stocks May Continue To Benefit From Recent Upward Momentum

[ADVFN]( [[Global Email] World Daily Markets Bulletin]( Monday, 18 December 2023 08:59:40 [ADVFN Twitter]( [Monitor]( [Quote]( [Charts]( [News]( [Toplists]( [Boards]( Breaking: Price of Gold & Silver set to EXPLODE in 2023! Read Now... Attention investors and retirement savers...Investment experts and even mainstream news publications are predicting a windfall for gold and silver prices in 2023! This could be the year we see the value of precious metals like gold and silver EXPLODE! You won't want to miss out! [Reserve Your FREE Gold & Silver Kit Today!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- US Market Bitcoin [Bitcoin]( DAX [DAX]( Dow Jones [Dow Jones]( Nasdaq [Nasdaq]( The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a moderately higher open on Monday, with stocks likely to add to the strong gains posted last week. The markets may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has propelled the Dow to new record highs. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have also reached their best levels in nearly two years. The major averages have moved higher for seven consecutive weeks due in part to optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Federal Reserve reinforced the optimism with its monetary policy announcement last week, forecasting three interest rate cuts in 2024. While some Fed officials have pushed back against the idea of imminent rate cuts, investors still widely expect the central bank to lower rates as early as March. Later this week, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of November, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Fed. After moving notably higher over the past several sessions, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow reached another new record closing high. The Dow edged up 56.81 points or 0.2 percent to 37,305.16, closing higher for the seventh consecutive session. The Nasdaq also climbed 52.36 points or 0.4 percent to a nearly two-year closing high of 14,813.92, while the S&P 500 edged down 0.36 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,719.19. The major averages all closed higher for the seventh consecutive week. While the Dow and the Nasdaq both surged by 2.9 percent, the S&P 500 jumped by 2.5 percent. The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a breather following the recent upward move by the markets. Optimism about the outlook for interest rates has contributed to the recent strength on Wall Street, although hopes for near-term interest rate cuts were partly offset by comments from New York Federal Reserve President John Williams. Williams told CNBC's "Squawk Box" the Fed is not "really talking about rate cuts right now" and is focused on whether monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive to ensure inflation comes back down to 2 percent. Nonetheless, the chances of a quarter point rate cut in March have jumped to 62.4 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool. On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve released a report showing a modest rebound in U.S. industrial production in the month of November. The report said industrial production rose by 0.2 percent in November after slumping by a downwardly revised 0.9 percent in October. Economists had expected industrial production to climb by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month. The rebound in industrial production came as manufacturing output increased by 0.3 percent in November after plunging by 1.2 percent in October following the resolution of strikes at several major automakers. Housing stocks gave back ground after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index falling by 1.9 percent after ending Thursday's trading at a record closing high. Significant weakness was also visible among utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Utility Average. Commercial real estate, brokerage and natural gas stocks also saw notable weakness, while software stocks showed a strong move to the upside. --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you day trade? Trader Alerts streams stocks reaching new highs and lows as well as stocks breaking out of previous volume highs as they happen. It's a powerful tool for day trading ideas. [Learn More / Upgrade]( --------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Economic Reports CADUSD [CADUSD]( Oil [Oil]( Gold [Gold]( EURUSD [EURUSD]( The National Association of Home Builders is scheduled to release its report on homebuilder confidence in the month of December at 10 am ET. The housing market index is expected to rise to 37 in December after slumping to 34 in November. --------------------------------------------------------------- [3 Tiny Stocks Primed to Explode]( The world's greatest investor ? Warren Buffett ? has a simple formula for making big money in the markets. He buys up valuable assets when they are very cheap. For stock market investors that means buying up cheap small cap stocks like these with huge upside potential. We've set up an alert service to help smart investors take full advantage of the small cap stocks primed for big returns. [Click here for full details and to join for free.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stocks in Focus Shares of U.S. Steel (X) are soaring in pre-market trading after announcing an agreement to be acquired by Japan?s Nippon Steel for $55.00 per share in cash. Biotechnology company Illumina (ILMN) is also likely to see initial strength announcing plans to divest cancer Grail through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction, consistent with the European Commission's divestiture order. Meanwhile, shares of Roku (ROKU) may move to the downside after Seaport downgraded its rating on the streaming video platform to Sell from Neutral. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Sell every Stock except ONE]( Markets are down... But Jeff Clark couldn't care less because he ignores almost every stock in the market except ONE. He lives financially free trading this One Stock Once per month... [Ticker Revealed.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Europe European stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Monday as investors digest hawkish comments from central bankers and looked ahead to the latest U.S. and U.K. inflation readings this week for further direction. Meanwhile, German business sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated in December, according to survey results from the ifo Institute. The business climate index fell to 86.4 in December from a revised score of 87.2 in the previous month. The score was forecast to improve to 87.8. Both current assessment and expectations among companies deteriorated at the end of the year. While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has advanced by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.4 percent. OCI has soared after the Dutch chemicals maker announced the sale of its 50 percent stake in Fertiglobe to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company P.J.S.C. Vodafone has also jumped in London after Iliad Group put forward a proposal to the company to merge their Italian businesses in a deal valuing Vodafone Italia at 10.45 billion euros ($11.38 billion). Unilever has fallen after the consumer goods giant said it would sell Q-Tips maker Elida Beauty to Boston-based private equity firm Yellow Wood for an undisclosed amount. Building materials business CRH has also moved lower after it joined hands with the Barro Group to acquire Australian cement manufacturing company Adbri. Thyssenkrupp Nucera, which made its Frankfurt market debut in July, has rallied as it reported fourth quarter net income of 4.3 million euros compared to a loss of 1.2 million euros last year. Software AG has also risen after IBM said it would buy the German firm's enterprise tech business for 2.13 billion euros in cash. --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a full view of the market? Level 2 lets you see all of the orders to buy and sell shares, allowing you to see what is really going on in the market. If you don?t have this in your trading toolkit, you?re at a serious disadvantage. [Learn More / Upgrade]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Asia USDCAD [USDCAD]( USDEUR [USDEUR]( USDGBP [USDGBP]( USDJPY [USDJPY]( Asian shares ended mostly lower on Monday after New York Fed chief Williams said that a March cut seems ?premature,? tempering market speculation about imminent rate cuts. Investors also sought direction from this week's Bank of Japan's interest-rate decision and a key U.S. inflation reading. Chinese and Hong Kong markets fell, with property developers succumbing to selling pressure after China South City Holdings warned it can't pay interest due Wednesday. China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 2,930.80 before Wednesday's loan prime rate announcement. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.0 percent to 16,629.23. Japanese shares fell notably, while the yen struggled for direction as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) began a 2-day meeting amid speculation it could change its forward guidance on interest rates or provide signals on policy change. Most economists expect the BOJ to ditch negative interest rates by the end of next year. Upcoming inflation data on Friday also remained on investors' radar. The Nikkei 225 Index ended 0.6 percent lower at 32,758.98, while the broader Topix Index slid 0.7 percent to 2,316.86. Consumer-related stocks and financials led losses, with Sony and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial falling around 2 percent each. Seoul stocks ended a choppy session slightly higher, with the Kospi closing up 0.1 percent at 2,566.86. Shipping stocks rose on expectations that disruptions to Red Sea routes due to militant attacks will push up freight rates. Australian markets closed lower to snap a six-session winning streak. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 7,426.40, dragged down by financials and gold miners. The broader All Ordinaries Index settled 0.2 percent lower at 7,649.60. Pension company Link Administration Holdings soared 27 percent following a takeover offer by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you day trade? Trader Alerts streams stocks reaching new highs and lows as well as stocks breaking out of previous volume highs as they happen. It's a powerful tool for day trading ideas. [Learn More / Upgrade]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Commodities Crude oil futures are jumping $1.58 to $73.01 a barrel after slipping $0.15 to $71.43 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after falling $9.20 to $2,035.70 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $3 to $2,038.70 an ounce. On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 142.78 yen versus the 142.15 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0921 compared to last Friday?s $1.0895. --------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this news bulletin or edit your mailing list settings click [here](. Registered Office/Accounts Dept: Suite 27, Essex Technology Centre, The Gable, Fyfield Road, Ongar, CM5 0GA. Customer Support +1 888-992-3836. Company registered in England and Wales: Number 2374988 VAT No. GB 549 2130 49