Weekly Market Recap – November 22nd, 2019

In the Markets

U.S. equities broke their six-week streak of gains, declining on the week, albeit by a small decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5%, the S&P 500 fell 0.3%, and the NASDAQ lost 0.2%. Due to the muted nature of these losses, volatility again remained low in equity markets. A main focus of the week was again the US-China trade negotiations, as investors began to speculate whether phase one of the trade deal would be completed before the end of 2019. Reports from China indicated that even if a deal is not reached before 2020, the December 15th tariffs could still be delayed as talks continue.

A potential complication arose when the U.S. Senate passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was not met with excitement from Beijing. However, Chinese leader Xi responded by calling for mutual respect and equality moving forward. Positive news came in from the manufacturing sector, as preliminary reports from the U.S. Purchasing Managers’ Index showed improved activity in November following recent global slumps in manufacturing.

Crude oil futures finished the week nearly flat. Brent futures inched up just 0.14%, while WTI futures’ gains were even more muted, up just 0.09%. Gasoline, on the other hand, broke from this trend, climbing 2.4% on the week. Heating oil also broke this trend, although it did so by falling 0.95%. Natural gas fell for the second week in a row, but this week’s losses were not as severe as the week prior, with the commodity falling 0.86%.

Precious metals, for the most part, all posted very minor gains. Silver climbed 1.17%, while gold and platinum barely moved the needle, up 0.14% and 0.15% respectively. Palladium, however, managed more significant gains on the week, recovering its losses the week prior, advancing 4.21% on the week. Copper also posted minor gains, up 0.8%.

Agricultural commodities posted a wide variety of results on the week. Soybeans, corn, and lean hog futures all dropped on the week. Soybeans fell 2.42%, corn lost 0.67%, and lean hogs dropped 3.12%. On the flip side, wheat futures, along with the triumvirate morning-cup-of-coffee futures, all posted gains. Wheat advanced 2.29%, coffee added 7.96%, sugar gained 0.79%, and milk futures went up 0.54%.

World Cup Trading Championships

Sadanand Kalasabail maintained his recently earned position atop the leaderboard, closing Friday with a net return of 241.9%. Ryan Alderson likewise held onto second place, finishing with a 175% net return. Durai Ramasamy’s 143.1% net return was good enough for third, followed by Eduardo Ramos’s fourth-best 130.3% net return. Fabien Fischer rounded out the top five, ending the week with a net return of 125.1%.

Wayne Wan continued to lead the Global Cup field with a 188.6% net return, although Jan Smolen closed Friday right on Wayne’s heals. Separated by just 3.2%, Smolen closed the week with a net return of 185.4%. Third and fourth place were also separated by an even smaller margin, with Stefan Seibert’s 94.8% net return just 2.7% ahead of Maxim Schulz. Maxim ended the week at a 92.1% net return. Archie Ma is currently in fifth place, claiming a spot on the leaderboard with a net return of 75.7%.

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.