Weekly Market Recap – September 6th, 2019

In the Markets

Equity markets experienced its second straight week of gains following recent corrections. Last week’s rumors cemented themselves as concrete news as China agreed to meet in Washington in October for trade negotiations and Hong Kong leadership withdrew its extradition bill. Economic data was mixed on the week allowing the trade developments to provide a catalyst for the rally. According to reports from the Institute for Supply Management, manufacturing activity fell to a three-year low, while non-manufacturing activity accelerated its expansion compared to July.

In Europe, the UK Parliament voted to disallow new Prime Minister Boris Johnson from leaving the EU without an agreement. This move, combined with the Prime Minister losing a parliamentary majority, could make Brexit, a journey that began over three years ago, less likely. Additionally, employment reports showed 130,000 nonfarm payroll positions added in the month of August. This combination of news and data received a bullish interpretation from the market as the Dow Jones increased 1.5% on the week, while the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both climbed 1.8%, with the S&P 500 again flirting with the $3,000 level.

Oil products, for the most part, experienced strong gains on the week. Gasoline, however, was left behind as futures fell 2.49% on the week. Both WTI and Brent crude gained on the week, up 2.51% and 1.8% respectively. Heating oil also rose, up 3.79%. Meanwhile, natural gas led the energy sector for a second straight week, increasing 8.45% on the week.Gold and silver slipped on the week, with gold falling 0.92% and silver losing 1.23%, but platinum broke from this trend, climbing 1.75%. Palladium’s week was less volatile than its fellow precious metals, moving up 0.36%. Copper exploded on the week, potentially feeling the effects of China’s and the U.S.’s return to the negotiation table, as the red metal rose 3.15% on the week.

Soybeans on the other hand, another important commodity in U.S.-China trade, fell on the week, down 1.25%. Corn also dropped, losing 4.53%, while wheat remained flat, moving up just 0.27% ahead of the August WASDE report to be released on September 12th. Coffee and milk went unsweetened for the second week in a row, up 3.31% and 1.95% respectively, while sugar fell again, down 1.09%.

World Cup Trading Championships

Durai Ramasamy and Holger Groechel both finished first and second again, separated by less than 25%, with Durai holding first at a 217.5% net return followed by Holger’s 194.1% net return. The rest of the leaderboard experienced a shakeup with Eduardo Ramos making his way back into the top 5, securing third place on the back of a 158.7% net return. Takumaru Sakakibara took fourth with his 129.4% net return, and the top five was rounded out by Fabien Fischer’s 111.4% net return.

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.