Weekly Market Recap – November 1st, 2019

In the Markets

The U.S. equity markets continued wearing their bull costumes during the Halloween week as stocks set record highs. The Dow Jones gained 1.4%, the NASDAQ climbed 1.7%, and the S&P 500 added 1.5%. The catalyst for this growth came in many forms, including the expected 25 basis point interest rate cut instituted by the Fed. The central bank also stated that an additional rate cut should not be expected in the near future, as they continue to monitor inflation. Markets were also spurred on by October’s employment report, which recorded 128,000 jobs added on the month. Additionally, August and September numbers were revised up by a total of 95,000, resulting in a three-month average of 175,000 additional non-farm payroll positions per month.

While growth continued, economic data was not all positive. The manufacturing sector had a third month in a row showing signs of contraction with a softer than expected IHS (Information Handling Service) Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures sentiment in the manufacturing sector. GDP data continued to show economic growth, albeit at a slower pace, growing at 1.9% during July through September.

Following a week of gains, crude oil products pulled back slightly this week. WTI crude fell 0.81% and Brent futures lost 0.53%. Gasoline dropped 1.03%, while heating oil posted the weakest performance of the sector, falling 2.35%. Natural gas, however, posted a substantial gain of 18% on the week as futures closed the week above 2.7/MMBtu for the first time since March.

Precious metals were again a tale of two halves: the old and the new. Gold and silver posted moderate gains, with silver up 0.7% and gold increasing just 0.41%. Platinum and palladium, however, climbed at a rate almost 4 times that of gold and silver. Palladium gained 2.27% on the week, and platinum climbed 2.6%. Copper fell on the week, losing 0.82%.

Agricultural commodities were a mixed bag this week. Wheat fell 0.32%, corn grew 0.64%, and soybeans climbed 1.53%. Lean hogs inched down 0.72%. The futures market’s latte got pricier this week, with sugar climbing 1.05%, coffee rising 4.58%, and milk gaining 8.14%.

World Cup Trading Championships

After what had become a seemingly insurmountable lead, Durai Ramasamy was unseated from the top position on the leaderboard. As the World Cup Trading Championship’s main event moved into its final two months, Sadanand Kalasabail took the lead with a net return of 211.1%. Durai Ramasamy remained in strong contention, holding second place with a 200.1% net return. Third place went to Ryan Alderson’s 159.2% net return, followed by Fabien Fischer who posted a fourth-best 125.4% net return. Eduardo Ramos returned to the leaderboard to round out the top five with a net return of 103.8%.

Wayne Wan’s trading strategy just went live on World Cup Advisor, as his championship account held onto first place in the Global Cup with a 191.9% net return. Jan Smolen finished in second with a 110.9% with Stefan Seibert and his third place 109% net return right on his heels. Michael Cook finished the week in fourth place at a net return of 89.4%. Yingying Cai of China made an appearance on the top five, finishing with a net return of 69.5%.

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.