Weekly Market Recap – September 27th, 2019

In the Markets

U.S. equities fell on the week with two main catalysts driving the decline. First, on Tuesday, House Democrats announced an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. There is a slim chance that the impeachment inquiry will lead to an eventual removal of President Trump before the 2020 election with a Republican controlled Senate. Regardless, the political turmoil may cause uncertainty in regards to trade negotiations and other geopolitical issues. The second event that drove markets down was Friday’s Bloomberg headline reporting potential plans out of the White House to limit U.S. investor portfolios flowing into China, as well as de-listing Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges.

In total, the Dow Jones faired the best on the week, losing just 0.4%. The S&P 500 lost a percentage point, while the NASDAQ dropped 2.2%. The Russell 2000 also dropped on the week, losing 2.5%. Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims came in at 213,000, maintaining historic lows, and August new home sales reached one of the highest marks since October 2007, reporting 713,000 homes sold.

Despite the recent strike on Saudi oil refineries, and growing tensions in the Middle East, crude oil products fell on the week. WTI and Brent both fell over three and a half percentage points, with WTI dropping 3.75% and Brent futures losing 3.69%. Gasoline and heating oil both also dropped on the week, although not as steeply as crude. Gasoline dropped 1.61% and heating oil lost 2.25%. Natural gas also posted losses on the week, falling 5.13% on reports of higher than expected supply.

Precious metals fell across the board, with the exception of palladium. Gold lost 0.57%, while silver dropped 1.1% and platinum fell 1.87%. Copper made it through the week fairly unscathed, losing just 0.35%. Palladium broke from the rest of the sector, extending its bullish streak to 8 straight weeks of gains, gaining 2.06% on the week.

Many agricultural commodities finished nearly flat on the week. Soybeans barely moved, up just 0.07%, corn inched higher, up 0.2%, and wheat futures gained 0.46%. Sugar, however, posted a strong week, gaining 3.97%. Coffee also gained 2.54%, while milk moved up just 0.11%. Lean hogs did not completely recover from the losses of the week prior, but still managed to climb 8.17% on the week, continuing its streak of high volatility.

World Cup Trading Championships

In the World Cup Trading Championships, Durai Ramasamy held onto first place, ending with a 211.4% net return. Eduardo Ramos finished in second place with a net return of 153.1%, followed by Holger Groechel’s 128.9% net return. Fabien Fischer finished less than three percentage points behind Groechel, ending the week in fourth place with a net return of 126.1%. Sadanand Kalasabail held onto a stop in the top five with a net return of 112.8%.

In the Global Cup, Wayne Wan remained in first place with his 129.2% net return, followed by Michael Cook’s 111.1% net return. Eduardo Ramos closed Friday in third place with a 90.6% net return. Jan Smolen remained in the top five with a 75.3%, with Maxim Schulz again closing out the leaderboard at 72.6%.

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.