
Markets Update: The stock market surged as Meta and Tesla reported favourable earnings, while Microsoft's shares declined due to a pessimistic outlook for its cloud division. The dollar weakened, benefiting gold prices, which neared record highs. The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates, aligning with expectations.
Global Markets Roundup: 30January 2025
FESX1! | Z1! | NI225 | NQ1! | ES1! | EURUSD | USDJPY | DXY | GOLD | CL1! | ZC1! | ZS1! HG1!
Equity Markets
Wall Street shares surged on Thursday as investors responded positively to earnings from Meta, but negatively to Microsoft. A weakened dollar further boosted gold prices. The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates steady on Wednesday, aligning with expectations, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated no immediate rate cuts, causing the dollar to drift. Gold prices, benefiting from the weaker dollar, approached record highs. The initial earnings reports from the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks received mixed reactions, with a particular focus on their AI spending in light of competition from the Chinese startup, DeepSeek. Microsoft exceeded quarterly revenue expectations but provided a pessimistic outlook for its cloud division, leading to a 6% decline in its shares. Meta, despite forecasting below-market first-quarter revenue, pledged to cut costs, resulting in a 2% rise in its shares. Tesla's fourth-quarter profit margin fell short of expectations, yet its shares increased by 4.3%. Apple is set to report its results later on Thursday.
In Europe, the STOXX 600 index reached a new record high, rising 0.7% amid significant earnings reports from Deutsche Bank, Shell, and H&M. Data released earlier showed that U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter but remained strong enough for investors to anticipate gradual rate cuts by the Fed this year. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported a 2.3% annualized GDP growth rate for the fourth quarter, below the 2.6% expectation, following a 3.1% pace in the third quarter. President Donald Trump's policies continue to pose risks to the Fed's policy outlook, with new tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and possibly China expected on Saturday. The European Central Bank cut interest rates as anticipated and reiterated that eurozone inflation is increasingly under control despite global trade concerns.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar weakened by 0.69% to 154.13 against the Japanese yen USDJPY. Conversely, it strengthened by 0.06% against the Swiss franc USDCHF, reaching 0.907. The euro EURUSD rose by 0.06% to $1.0426, while the British pound GBPUSD appreciated by 0.14% to $1.2462. The dollar index DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies including the yen and the euro, declined by 0.11% to 107.78.
Commodities
In commodities, gold rose 1% to $2,785 an ounce, benefiting from the drop in the dollar. Oil prices reversed earlier losses, with U.S. crude futures at $72.92 a barrel and Brent crude at $76.85. In agricultural commodities, arabica coffee futures on the ICE exchange KC1!, which serve as a global pricing benchmark for physical beans, reached an unprecedented $3.7420 per pound earlier today, reflecting an increase of over 15% year-to-date. Currently, prices are up 1.4% at $3.7150. Meanwhile, Robusta coffee futures RC2! increased by 0.9% to $5,632 per metric ton, having previously peaked at $5,695, marking the highest level since at least 1977, as per the International Coffee Organization's (ICO) price index. In the cocoa market, New York cocoa futures CC1! declined by 3.5% to $11,141 per ton, while London cocoa futures C2! fell by 3.3% to £8,594 per ton. In the sugar sector, raw sugar futures SB1! rose by 0.4% to 19.52 cents per pound, having reached a five-month low last week, while white sugar futures SF1! increased by 0.3% to $524.20 per ton.
Looking forward refer to the economic calendar below to see the upcoming events scheduled for today and the rest of the week.
General news - Information source from multiple newswires.
The article and the data is for general information use only, not advice!
The Trade Academy Team