Market Wrap – Risk Comes Back On The Table

Markets are in a more optimistic on Thursday on the European close, due to the fact that weekly jobless data in the United States came in higher than expected. This is help risk due to the fact that it may make it more difficult for the Fed to hike.

The Nasdaq has surged above the 12,000 level while the S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have made strong gains during the course of the USA session.

Additionally, the breakout in tech stocks today has helped Bitcoin and other cryptos surge higher. Tech and crypto have been tightly correlated together all year.

Inflation is another big story today. US natural gas prices are at the highest level of July after a surprisingly tight weekly inventory report, after storage increased by 60 bcf.

Worryingly, Natural gas was already higher on the day but jumped to $6.10 from $5.75 on today’s report. This marks the highest level since June 30^th this year.

Crude is also making a recovery of some $3.00 today after testing its 200-day moving average yesterday, which is located close to the $95.00 support level.

Notably, the reason why Crude is surging is that US natural gas is also up 6% today in a bounce after weeks of selling following the explosion at Freeport LNG.

Following Boris Johnson’s resignation today were a seeing strange move in the foreign exchange market regarding the British pound and the opposite reaction in UK stocks.

The British pound has surged above the 1.2000 level against the US dollar, and also posted some gains against the euro currency. However, the FTSE100 is down on the resignation announcement.

More than likely, the British pound and UK stocks will remain in limbo until another leader comes along. Johnson said he’d appointed a new cabinet that would serve alongside him until the Conservative Party selected a new leader to replace him as prime minister.

Gold is also slightly higher on the day, although the yellow-metal remains in the doldrums with other precious metals after suffering its worst weekly sell-off since the start of the week.