Weekly Market Recap – November 16th, 2018
In the Markets
After beginning November with a slight recovery from the October slump, equities turned bearish again, with the three major indices all falling on the week. The Dow Jones dropped 2.2%, the S&P 500 fell 1.6%, and the NASDAQ lost 2.1%. The consumer price index report showed rising inflation in October, with consumer prices up 2.5% over the past year. Core inflation (excluding volatile food and energy prices), however, has remained consistent with the Fed’s projection, which may keep them on their scheduled interest rate increase plan. This was highlighted by Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida stating on Friday that the Fed was getting closer to a neutral rate.
Saudi Arabia announced that it would cut its oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day in December, with both OPEC and non-OPEC nations potentially following suit, as crude oil continues to show low demand. Oil futures fell in response, with WTI crude falling by 6.2%, and Brent crude dropping by 4.83%. Gasoline and heating oil futures also posted losses, down 2.74% and 4.56% respectively. Natural Gas futures, however, again posted substantial gains, climbing 14.87% on the week.
Dollar index futures dropped from recent highs, as gold and silver rose. Gold gained 1.19%, and silver went up 1.71%. Platinum, however, fell 1.1% on the week.
Soybeans and wheat both posted positive weeks, with soybeans up 0.62%, and wheat climbed 0.95%. Corn futures, on the other hand, dropped 1.35%.
Softs saw losses across the board, with sugar falling 0.31%, and coffee dropping 1.1%. Cocoa and cotton both fell over 2.5%.
World Cup Trading Championships
Petra continued her streak of holding onto 1st place, closing Friday at 246.4%. Kurt Sakaeda took over second place on Thursday, finishing the week at 117.9%. Archie Ma held onto third place, ending at 96%, followed by Paul Skarp who was on his heels at 93.9%. Ryan Alderson climbed back into the top 5 for the first time since September, vaulting to 84.4% to round out the leaderboard.
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.