Asian stocks rose on the final day of the month amid optimism from the Covic-19 progress. S&P ended over 2.5% higher to a seven-week high. Gilead announced that its experimental drug helped Covic-19 patients recover faster. Japanese shares climbed more than 1.5% with Nasdaq futures advanced after results from Microsoft CorpFacebook and Tesla all printed good results.
The dollar continued the downward trend on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve left the door open to more monetary easing and dampened expectations for a quick economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Powell was fairly clear that probably more will need to be done to shield the economy from the fallout of the pandemic, especially on the fiscal side. At the same time, GDP in the first quarter contracted 4.8%, compared to estimates of a 3.5% drop, capping the upside for USD.
Although USD is weakening, gold didn't manage to climb higher. Optimism around the easing of lockdowns in many countries and hopes of a potential treatment drug propped up risk assets, while the U.S. Federal Reserve promised to keep interest rates near zero until it is comfortable that the U.S. economy is back on its feet and full employment has returned. While the uncertainties in the market could continue to last for a while, gold could consolidate before climbing higher.
Oil prices jumped more than 10% on Wednesday after U.S. crude stockpiles grew less than expected and gasoline posted a surprise draw, feeding optimism that fuel consumption will recover as some European countries and U.S. states ease coronavirus lockdowns. Today the bullish sentiment on more easing on lockdowns and company earnings is likely to benefit the crude oil as well.
The copper could see near-term consolidation after the report that China’s factory PMI moderates in April. The official PMI in April showed the manufacturing sector moderated, indicating the recovery from a first-quarter slump will be prolonged as the shutdown is still keeping a cap on global demand. Meanwhile, another private survey shows that China’s manufacturing activity contracted in April with the Caixin PMI printed 49.4.
Technical & Trade views
USDCAD (Intraday bias: bullish above 1.3862)
We remain bullish as price is likely to bounce off 1st support, which happens to be previous horizontal swing low and 78.6% fibonacci extension. Price is likely to go higher towards 1st resistance at 1.4006 where the previous pullback resistance is.
UKOIL (Intraday bias: bullish above 22.43)
We remain bullish as price is likely to bounce off 1st support, which happens to be previous horizontal swing high and 38.2% fibonacci retracement. Price is likely to go higher towards 1st resistance at 29.19 where the previous swing high resistance is.
XAUUSD ( Intraday bias: bearish below 1718.42)
We turned bearish as price broke below the downside confirmation at 1718.42 where the 61.8% fibonacci retracement and horizontal overlap resistance are. Price is likely to drop towards 1st support at 1642.36 where the 38.2% fibonacci retracement and horizontal overlap support are.
XCUUSD ( Intraday bias: bullish above 2.3514)
We remain bullish as price is likely to bounce off upside confirmation further, which happens to be previous horizontal swing high. Price is likely to go higher towards 1st resistance at 2.4152 where the previous overlap resistance is.
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Desmond Leong runs an award-winning research firm (The Technical Analyst finalists 2018/19/20 for Best FX and Equity Research) advising banks, brokers and hedge funds. Backed by a team of CFA, CMT, CFTe accredited traders, he takes on the market daily using a combination of technical and fundamental analysis.