Weekly Market Recap – December 13th, 2019

As 2019 comes to a close, Robbins Trading Company is excited to announce the 37th annual World Cup Trading Championships. The 2020 competition begins on January 1st, 2020 and runs through December 31st 2020.

In the Markets

US equities again extended their run, reaching new highs last week as the three main sources of uncertainty all received updates. In trade, the US and China successfully reached phase one of their trade deal. This possible development had been revealed before, however it was uncertain if the two countries could strike an agreement before the New Year. Another source of uncertainty hung over the UK’s Brexit proceedings, which gained potential clarity after prime minister Boris Johnson’s party won the majority in the general elections, pointing to a more assured plan regarding Britain leaving the EU. Additionally, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, pointing to low inflation.

The long term effects of these developments remains to be seen, but on the week the three major indices posted gains. The Dow Jones gained 0.4%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7%, and the NASDAQ rose 0.9%. The gains brought the Dow Jones to a 20.6% YTD return, the S&P 500 to a YTD return of 26.4%, and the NASDAQ to a 31.6% net return.

Crude oil products posted gains across the board. WTI and Brent crude futures rose 1.47% and 1.29%. Gasoline advanced at a slower rate, up 0.96%, while Heating Oil futures outperformed crude, gaining 1.76%. Natural gas fell on the week, slipping 1.63%.

Precious metals all posted gains on the week. Gold finished the week with the smallest gain of the sector, up 1.1%. The other big three players in the space, silver, palladium, and platinum, all exceeded a 2.5% gain on the week. Silver grew 2.51%, palladium gained 3.02%, and platinum climbed 3.64%. Copper also posted gains on the week, up 2.06% following phase one of the US-China trade deal.

Soybeans also received a boon, up 2.02%. Wheat also posted gains on the week, up 1.57%, while corn was left behind, finishing nearly flat as it lost just 0.07%. Coffee and sugar both advanced, up 4.64% and 2.43% respectively, but that coffee finished the week dairy-free as milk futures lost 0.77% on the week. Lean hogs also lost, down 1.05%.

World Cup Trading Championships

With just eleven and a half trading sessions left in the 2019 competition, Sadanand Kalasabail entered the final straightaway in the lead, closing Friday with a net return of 208.3%. He was not alone, however, as Ryan Alderson finished the week on his heels at a net return of 183.1%, separated by just 25.2% with a couple weeks of trading left. Durai Ramasamy held onto third place with a net return of 134.6%, followed closely by Fabien Fischer’s 132.1% net return. Eduardo Ramos rounded out the top five with a net return of 99.6%.

In the Global Cup, which approaches its halfway mark, Jan Smolen held his recently acquired lead for another week, ending Friday at a net return of 231%. Wayne Wan remained in second place at a 135% net return, followed by Maxim Schulz’s 107.8% net return. Archie Ma and Stefan Seibert finished in fourth and fifth place separated by less than a single percentage point, closing with net returns of 94% and 93.4% respectively.

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. CME Group is the trademark of CME Group, Inc. The Globe logo is a trademark of Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Inc.