Weekly Market Recap – May 3rd, 2019
In the Markets
The S&P 500 began the week setting all-time highs, with Monday intraday prices less than $0.50 shy of 2,950 on its way to a record close to end April. The index then fell, down 0.76% on the week by Thursday’s close, only to rally on Friday with a net gain of 0.2% on the week. The NASDAQ matched this weekly gain, up 0.2%, while the Dow Jones fell slightly, down 0.1%.
The April employment report revealed 263,000 jobs added in April, compared to an average monthly gain of 213,000 over the last year. This brought unemployment down to 3.6%. Additionally, wages showed steady growth, with average hourly earnings up $0.06 on the month. This combined with the Fed\\\’s reiteration of its patient approach regarding interest rate increases, as the market appears to be supporting growth without fueling inflation.
Crude oil futures fell on the week, as WTI crude posted a second straight week of losses, down 2.14% this week, and Brent futures erased its minor gains the week prior, down 1.8% through Friday. Gasoline fell significantly, down 3.53%, while heating oil futures saw gains, up 0.93% on the week. Natural Gas finished almost flat, moving just a single tick, up 0.04%.
Precious metals fell across the board, with gold and silver down 0.62% and 0.65% respectively. Platinum began the week down 5.44%, dropping from $900 to $853/t oz. A late week rally erased some of these losses, with a net drop of 3.11% by Friday’s close. Copper posted its 3rd losing week in a row, down 2.18%.
Agricultural commodities were a mixed bag. Wheat began with a rally, up 2.27% through Thursday, before cooling off during Friday’s session, resulting in a net weekly gain of 0.66%. Corn posted a strong performance, up 3.35%, while soybean futures fell 1.42%.
World Cup Trading Championships
Eduardo Ramos was temporarily unseated from first place by Durai Ramasamy on Wednesday, but a Friday rally put Eduardo back in poll position, finishing the week with a net return of 284.9%. Durai Ramasamy retained second place with a net return of 134.9%. Third place was secured by Andrei Balanescu and his net return of 120.8%, followed by Lukas Schreiber’s net return of 96.1%. 2017 World Cup Championship of Futures Trading® winner Stefano Serafini made his first appearance on the leaderboard, finishing the week with a net return of 76%.
Trading futures and forex involves significant risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. World Cup Championship (WCC ) accounts do not necessarily represent all the trading accounts controlled by a given competitor. WCC competitors may control accounts that produce results substantially different than the results achieved in their WCC accounts. WCC entrants may trade more than one account in the competition.