Wall Street slumps on growth concerns
Reports suggesting the US economy was suffering the most from the tariff war pressured Wall Street yesterday, though most indices closed off their intra-day lows. China’s NPC set 2019 growth target at 6.0-6.5%, in line with expectations. Oil prices rose as Russia plans to speed up production cuts.
US30USD Daily Chart
The US30 index fell the most in more than a month yesterday, pressured by expectations that US growth may be downgraded as a direct result of the trade tariff war
Resistance at the November high of 26,249 remains intact. Support may be found at the 200-day moving average at 25,112
The ISM non-manufacturing index is expected to outperform the manufacturing one in February, with a reading of 57.2 from 56.7 in January. New home sales are seen falling 9.1% m/m in December, further evidence of how this sector is lagging behind the rest of the economy.
DE30EUR Daily Chart
The Germany30 index touched a four-month high yesterday before closing in the red for the first time in three days
The index appears to be shying away from the 200-day moving average, which is at 11,847 today. Trendline support (former resistance) may be found around the 11,288 level
Euro-zone retail sales are expected to rebound in January from December’s decline. Economists are forecasting a 0.8% gain from a month earlier.
WTICOUSD Daily Chart
Oil prices overcame weakness in the equity markets to rise 1.3% yesterday after Russia’s energy minister said they plan to accelerate output cuts this month
WTI has been oscillating around the 100-day moving average, which is at 55.09 today, for the past two weeks. The 55-day moving average at 51.985 has supported prices on a closing basis since January 17
Crude oil output from OPEC hit a four-year low in February as production cuts took hold. API weekly crude oil stocks are due later today. Last week saw a drawdown of 4.2 million barrels.
