UK retail sales recovered to the near pre-pandemic levels; the index records the volume of all goods sold by retailers monthly. The National Statistical Office (ONS) reported today the UK retail sales for the month of June climbed 13.9%, bigger than economists' forecasts of an 8% rise. Growth in sales, excluding auto fuel, improved to 13.5% in June from 10.6% a month ago.
EQUITIES
Global stocks trading lower on Friday following a sell-off in US equities overnight higher as US jobless claim edged up and the other main reasons are tensions between the US and China and the mounting number of COVID-19 cases.
OIL
Crude oil price edged lower as investors fear the oversupply concerns continued after data from both the API and EIA showed US crude inventories rose unexpectedly last week.
CURRENCIES
The Australian dollar also retreated from a 15-month peak against the dollar to 0.7070, meanwhile, the New Zealand dollar dropped to 0.6630. The British Pound trading mixed after positive economic data, at the time of writing the currency pair trading near 1.2720.
GOLD
Gold prices surged to near the psychological level of $1900 as concerns about worsening US-China tensions added to the economic uncertainty and the lower interest rates have supported the upward trend.
Economic Outlook
On the data front, Germany Services PMI climbed to 56.7 in July 2020 from 47.3 in the previous month and well above market expectations of 50.5, a preliminary estimate showed. UK Services PMI jumped to 56.6 in July 2020 from the previous month's 47.1 and well above market expectations of 51.5.
On Thursday the US released the Initial Weekly Jobless Claims numbers, which unexpectedly increased to 1.1416 million as compared to the previous week’s 1.307 million. While continuing jobless claims decreased to 16.20 million in the week ended July 11th, below market forecasts of 17.07 million.
The important earnings to watch today: Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and American Express (NYSE: AXP).
Coronavirus update:
The number of people infected with the coronavirus across the world surpassed 15 million, of which at least 633,449 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins. Currently, more than 4,169,991 U.S. residents have tested positive for the virus, and 143,333 have died. In India, there have been 1,288,108 confirmed cases and 30,601 deaths, with 817,209 people recovered from the virus.
Technical Outlook
XAU/USD: Gold prices are now up more than 25% from March’s lows, and the next important resistance to watch $1,920 an ounce hit in September of 2011
.
The important levels to watch for today: Support- 1880 and 1873 Resistance- 1900 and 1910.
EUR/USD: The pair slightly retreated from the fresh session high of 1.1625, at the time writing the currency pair trading below 1.1600.
The important levels to watch for today: Support- 1.1560 and 1.1510 Resistance- 1.1630 and 1.1670.
Quote of the day: The fundamental law of investing is the uncertainty of the future – Peter Bernstein.
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