Weekly Market Recap – September 9, 2022
Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at the age of 96. She was Britain’s longest-serving monarch, having reigned since 1952. Prince Charles ascended to the throne as King Charles III. Earlier in the week, Liz Truss started working as the United Kingdom\\\’s fourth prime minister since the Brexit vote in 2016. On Wednesday, the British Pound had tumbled to $1.1406 a 37-year low, its lowest rate since 1985 when Margaret Thatcher was PM. The UK has the highest inflation rate among the G7 nations. The European Central Bank raised rates by 75 basis points, increasing Eurozone borrowing costs to their highest level since 2011. This is the ECB’s largest rate increase in its 24-year history.
Monthly economic statistics reported during the week were: trade balance deficit -$70.6 billion vs. -$80.9 billion, consumer credit $24 billion vs. $39 billion, and wholesale inventories (revision) +0.6% vs. +0.8%. Quarterly stats showed that real household wealth plummeted -20.9% vs. -7.0% (Q2/Q1), and real domestic nonfinancial debt eased -0.3% vs. +1.4% (Q2/Q1). The unemployment numbers for the weekly reports showed that initial jobless claims fell to 222,000 vs. the previous 228,000, and continuing claims rose to 1.45 million from 1.44 million.
Stock markets maintained steady gains throughout the shortened week as the three indices we monitor advanced: the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 32,151.71 (+2.7%), the S&P 500 rose 3.6% to close at 4,067.36, and the NASDAQ Composite went out at 12,112.31 (+4.1%). CBOE’s VIX settled at 22.79 (-10.5%). In currencies, USD Index futures closed the week at 108.997 (-0.5%). The commodity sector eased slightly as a whole, as per S&P’s GSCI: the portfolio of futures slipped to 649.89 (-0.2%).
Metals sector futures were mostly higher. In the contracts we track here, closing prices and percentage movements were as follows: gold at $1,728.60 per ounce (+0.3%), silver at $18.767 (+5.0%), platinum at $876.90 (+7.2%), palladium at $2,177.60 (+7.5%), copper at $3.5680 per pound (+4,5%) and aluminum at $2,286.00 per metric ton (-0.4%).
The energy futures on our radar moved to the downside, except for heating oil, which was only fractionally higher. Here’s how they played out: WTI crude at $86.79 per barrel (-0.1%), Brent crude at $92.84 (-0.2%), heating oil at $3.5787 per gallon (+0.02%), RBOB gasoline at $2.4331 (-1.2%), NYMEX natural gas at $7.996 per MMBtu (-9.0%), and ICE TTF Dutch gas at €207.091 per MWh (-3.5%).
In the Ag markets, the weekly score for the nine products we follow was 6 up and 3 down. The gainers were: corn at $6.85 (+3.0%), wheat at $8.69½ (+7.2%), sugar at 18.22¢ (+0.4%), cotton at 104.84¢ (+1.6%), live cattle at 145.675 (+0.8%) and lean hogs at 93.175 (+3.5%). The contracts that moved into the red were: soybeans at $14.12¼ (-0.6%), coffee at $2.2850 (-0.1%) and cocoa at $2,360 (-2.3%).
Futures Referenced in Market Recap
Exchange | Commodity | Contract Month |
---|---|---|
CME | Live Cattle | October |
CME | Lean Hogs | October |
CBT | Soybeans | November |
CBT | Corn | December |
CBT | Wheat | December |
ICE | Coffee | December |
ICE | Cocoa | December |
ICE | Sugar | October |
ICE | Cotton | December |
ICE | Brent Crude | November |
ICE | Dutch TTF Gas | October |
ICE | USD Index | September |
NYMEX | WTI Crude | October |
NYMEX | ULSD (Heating Oil) | October |
NYMEX | RBOB (Gasoline) | October |
NYMEX | Natural Gas | October |
NYMEX | Platinum | October |
NYMEX | Palladium | December |
COMEX | Gold | December |
COMEX | Silver | December |
COMEX | Copper | December |
LME | Aluminum | 3 Mo. Forward |
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