US stocks remained elevated this morning, testing new highs, with little impact from the political events over the weekend. Markets will be paying attention to the start of the Q2 earnings season, and so far, banking results have underperformed. Still, there are a few signs that equities have exhausted their upside, and we might see some moderate strength in the coming days. This week, a couple of economic data are released from the UK, Europe, and the US. However, they are unlikely to impact the market significantly. Volatility across the board is likely to remain low. The dollar found support at 104 today.
Economic data from China over the weekend pointed to further softness in the nation's performance. China's GDP grew at 4.7% YoY, which is the slowest pace of growth in five quarters and falls below expectations. Although industrial output continued to grow strongly, retail sales, representing the nation's consumer segment, only grew at a slower-than-expected rate of 2.0%. While this data might indicate continued growth in the manufacturing sector, domestic home prices extended their decline, underlining continued weakness in the construction sector. Despite this weakening data, the base metals complex did not react to this news. Copper remained broadly unchanged at $9,806/t, and lead and zinc held their nerve. Aluminium, on the other hand, weakened below the robust support of $2,470/t on the back of continued supply expansion from China, creating less incentive on the upside. Nickel remained below the $17,000/t level at $16,701/t.
Oil futures remained flat, while gold and silver strengthened to $2,434/oz and $30.93/oz, respectively.
All price data is from 15.07.2024 as of 17:30
