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I'm Amy Anderson for OptionRally TV. Let's take a look at last week's market action
and what to expect this coming week. This weekend the G20 Summit in Australia will be
the key market focus and could have major effects on the market early in the week
Wall Street rebounds on Friday Severe Cold continues across the US pushing
natural gas to a record high Crude Oil eases on Friday while Gold continues
to climb
Let's take a quick look at what is happening in the global markets.
Stocks slipped on Friday, pushing the market to a weekly loss, as investors assessed the
latest round of company earnings. Priceline.com climbed $32.65, or 2.5 percent, to $13-15.65
after the online travel company reported earnings that exceeded expectations of Wall Street
analysts, as bookings for hotels, rental cars and airline tickets accelerated
The stock market has gained this month after getting a boost from decent corporate earnings
for the fourth quarter and optimism that the economy will start to pull out of its winter
slump as the weather improves. While investors have been willing to overlook much of the
weak economic data this month, they appear reluctant to push the stock market back above
its recent highs before they see firmer evidence that the economy is sustaining its recovery.
The S&P 500 was down almost 6 percent for the year at the start of February amid concerns
about slowing growth in China and other emerging markets, as well as worries about the state
of the U.S. economy. Since then stocks have rebounded, but some investors aren't convinced
the recovery will last. In Europe France's CAC 40 index hit a 5-1/2-year
peak to lead European shares higher on Friday, with an index of top shares in the region
posting its third straight week of gains. The CAC is up 2 percent so far this year,
compared to a 1.1 percent rise on the German DAX. Last year, the DAX rose 25 percent to
the CAC's 17 percent gain.
In the foreign exchange market the greenback eased against the euro but gained against
other major currencies on Friday as investors appeared to shrug off another disappointing
report on the US housing market. The euro traded at $1.37-34. The dollar rose to 102.49
yen. The euro also advanced against the Japanese currency, to 1-41 yen.
The euro continued to firm against the greenback after Moody's raised Spain's investment grade
credit rating a notch, citing the country's progress in structural reforms to put the
ailing economy on a more sustainable growth track. The pound dipped to $1.66-55.
Traders will focus this weekend on the G20 Summit in Sydney where central bank policy
and currency manipulations are expected to be the main topics along with growth.
Moving to commodities market. Oil prices fell as investors booked profits from the week's
solid gains that put prices at their highest point since the start of 2014. West Texas
Intermediate lost 55 cents closing at $102.20 a barrel. In London trade, Brent North Sea
crude slid 45 cents to settle at $109.85 a barrel.
Natural gas prices closed near five-year highs Friday, as the market weighed near-term forecasts
for moderate weather against expectations that frigid temperatures would return next
week. Natural gas closed up 7.1 cents at $6.1-35. Prices rose 92.1 cents, or 18%, this week.
It was the largest one-week dollar gain since June 2008.
Gold rose for the week, as some investors were concerned about the political turmoil
in Ukraine. Gold rose $6.70, to settle at $13-23.60. Gold's gains come as some investors
show a renewed interest in the precious metal's role as a safe haven. Gold prices tumbled
28% in 2013, as a brighter global growth outlook lured many investors into riskier assets such
as stocks. But some investors are giving gold a second chance this year in the wake of concerns
about financial instability in emerging markets and the recent politically motivated violence
in Ukraine. Gold traders have also been lured into the market as futures have spent a week
trading above a widely-watched technical indicator that separates long-term bullish and bearish
trends. This is Amy Anderson from OptionRally signing
off. Follow me on Facebook and watch for our new financial terms of the day and our weekly
event news. And of course I'm waiting for your LIKE below if you enjoyed today's update.
Have a great week