By Deepta Bolaky
 @DeeptaGOMarkets

Equity Markets

The stock market remains driven by headlines on the US stimulus package leading up to the most-awaited political event of the year. European and US stocks edged mostly lower as stimulus chaos, Brexit woes, and COVID-19 spread across European countries continue to rattle the financial markets.

Source: Bloomberg

After a choppy trading session across the trading day, major US equity indices ended in negative territory as hopes of a deal drifted into another day. 

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 98 points or 0.4% to 28,211.
• S&P 500 fell by 8 points or 0.2% to 3,436.
• Nasdaq Composite erased 32 points or 0.3% to 11,485.

On the earnings front, Tesla reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2020 after market close on Wednesday. Its share price skyrocketed in after-trading hours following the release. In the third quarter, the electric car company produced just over 145,000 vehicles and delivered nearly 140,000 vehicles.

“Total revenue grew 39% YoY in Q3. This was achieved mainly through substantial growth in vehicle deliveries as well as growth in other parts of the business. At the same time, vehicle average selling price (ASP) declined slightly compared to the same period last year as our product mix continues to shift from Model S and Model X to the more affordable Model 3 and Model Y. ”

Currency Markets 

In the FX space, the US dollar struggled against its peers as the day progressed without much certainty about the state of negotiations on the stimulus package. Amid a relatively subdued economic calendar, major currencies pairs were mostly driven by the broader sentiment of the markets.

Source: Bloomberg

The Canadian dollar was among the worst performers against the greenback dragged by weaker commodity prices and mixed economic data:

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5% on a year-over-year basis in September, up from a 0.1% increase in August. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 1.0% in September, following a 0.6% increase in August. The acceleration in the CPI was largely due to price changes in the transportation, recreation, education and reading, and shelter components. 
• Retail sales rose 0.4% to $53.2 billion in August—the fourth consecutive monthly increase since the record decline in April. However, the figures came below the 1.1% expected. 

The British Pound and Euro got a boost on the news that the EU and the UK will resume talks while the Antipodeans were mostly left at the broader sentiment of the markets and benefited from cautiously optimistic tones.

Commodities

Crude oil prices failed to retain the upside momentum seen earlier this week. The oil market remains underpinned by the continuous uncertainty on the demand side. Europe is under various types of curfews and social distancing measures following the rapid acceleration of coronavirus cases across the region. 

After a downbeat API inventory report, the Energy Information Administration reported a decrease of 1.0 million barrels of US commercial crude oil inventories from the previous week. As of writing, WTI Crude oil (Nymex) and Brent Crude (ICE) were trading at around $39.90 and $41.73 respectively.

Gold

Gold edged higher on the broad dollar weakness but the main driver for the precious metal stays the stimulus package. As of writing, the XAUUSD pair is trading around $1,922.

Source: GO MT4

By Deepta Bolaky
 @DeeptaGOMarkets

Key upcoming events

• RBA’s Debelle Speech, and NAB Business Confidence (Australia)
• All Industry Activity Index (Japan)
• Gfk Consumer Confidence Survey (Germany)
• ECB’s Panetta Speech and Consumer Confidence (Eurozone)
• BoE’s Haldane Speech, Governor Bailey Speech and CBI Industrial Trends Survey – Orders (UK)
• Jobless Claims and Existing Home Sales (US)

Friday, 22 October 2020  Indicative Index Dividends Dividends are in Points
ASX200	WS30	US500	US2000	NDX100	CAC40	STOXX50
0	6.777	0.067	0.051	0	0	0
ESP35	ITA40	FTSE100	DAX30	HK50	JP225	INDIA50
0	0	0	0	0	0	10.199

Disclaimer:  The articles are from GO Markets analysts,  based on their independent analysis or personal experiences. Views or opinions or trading styles expressed are of their own;  should not be taken as either representative of or shared by GO Markets.  Advice (if any),  are of a ‘general’ nature and not based on your personal objectives, financial situation or needs.  You should therefore consider how appropriate the advice (if any) is to your objectives, financial situation and needs, before acting on the advice.  If the advice relates to acquiring a particular financial product, you should obtain and consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Financial Services Guide (FSG) for that product before making any decisions.

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