08/05/2023
Today’s Announcements & News
Asia
The three major U.S. indexes went on a four-day losing streak as Wall Street’s rekindled fears about the banking sector caused mixed results in Asia-Pacific markets. The SPDR S&P Regional Bank ETF (KRE) saw a more than 5% drop in shares of regional banks, and some banks experienced volatile trading.
As investors digested the Reserve Bank of Australia’s statement on monetary policy, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia erased earlier losses and gained 0.37 percent to close at 7,220.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng file rose 0.38%, driving additions in the district. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.48% to 3,334.5 on the mainland, while the Shenzhen Component lost 0.83 percent to 11,180.87.
The Caixin services purchasing managers index in China fell to 56.4 in April from 57.8 in March, but the Caixin manufacturing PMI remained in expansion territory.
Markets in Japan and South Korea were shut for a vacation.
United States
On Friday, regional bank shares recovered from their lows and Apple, a market favorite, surged after reporting quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations.
To reach 33,674.38, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 546.64 points, or 1.65 percent. The S&P 500 gained 1.85 percent to 4,136.25 at the end of the day. The Nasdaq Composite progressed 2.25% and shut down at 12,235.41.
The Dow and S&P 500 had their worst week since March, despite Friday’s rally. The S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent, while the 30-stock Dow lost 1.24 percent. The Nasdaq possibly managed with a little week by week gain of 0.07%.
Commodity
After a sharp decline earlier this week in anticipation of benchmark interest rate increases and on concerns that the U.S. banking crisis will slow the economy and reduce fuel demand, oil prices increased on Friday but fell for the third consecutive week.
Brent crude closed at $75.30 a barrel, up $2.80, or 3.9%. After four days of declines that brought the contract to lows not seen since late 2021, U.S. West Texas Intermediate ended up $2.78, or 4.1%, at $71.34.
After data on U.S. payrolls that came in higher than expected tempered expectations of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates, gold held onto its gains on Friday.
By 1:40 p.m. EDT (1740 GMT), spot gold was down 1.7 percent to $2,015.33 per ounce, but it was up 1.3 percent for the week. It had risen to $2,072.19 on Thursday, just shy of its record high of $2,072.49, following the Fed’s hint that its hiking cycle may be coming to an end.
The above analysis is only for the views of market researchers and is for reference only and is not regarded as a specific investment suggestion.
