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Macro Roundup (Oct 30)

iconOct 30, 2020 08:44
Source:SMM
The dollar held gains against a basket of major currencies on Thursday as escalating coronavirus cases in Europe stoked investor fears that fresh lockdowns would further hit the already fragile economic recovery.

SHANGHAI, Oct 30 (SMM) — This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

 

The dollar held gains against a basket of major currencies on Thursday as escalating coronavirus cases in Europe stoked investor fears that fresh lockdowns would further hit the already fragile economic recovery.

Concerns of further damage to the economy grew as France and Germany went back into lockdown on Wednesday, as a massive second wave of coronavirus cases threatened to overwhelm Europe.

 

On Wall Street, US stock futures fell in overnight trading Thursday after some of the technology heavyweights came under pressure following their quarterly reports.

Shares of Apple fell more than 4% in extended trading after the tech giant reported a 16% decline in iPhone sales and failed to offer investors any guidance for the quarter ahead. Amazon dipped 1.5% even after the e-commerce giant reported blowout third-quarter results with a big beat on the top line.

Shares of Alphabet soared more than 7% in extended trading after the Google parent company posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations. Meanwhile, Twitter dropped more than 14% after the social media company reported user growth that fell short of expectations.

Wall Street staged a modest rebound on Thursday on the back of better-than-expected US gross domestic product and jobless claim data. The 30-stock Dow gained more than 100 points for its first positive day in five, while the S&P 500 rose 1.2% to snap a three-day losing streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.6%.

 

Oil prices fell more than 3% on Thursday, extending the previous day’s sharp decline on the potential impact renewed coronavirus lockdowns will have on oil demand.

With COVID-19 cases surging across Europe, France will require people to stay at home for all but essential activities from Friday, while Germany will shut bars, restaurants and theatres from Nov. 2 until the end of the month. “As lockdowns begin to bite on demand concerns across Europe, the near-term outlook for crude starts to deteriorate,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi.

 

Gold prices fell to a one-month low on Thursday, extending the previous session’s sharp slide as the dollar remained the preferred refuge from risks due to mounting COVID-19 cases ahead of the US Presidential election.

 

The number of first-time unemployment-benefits filers fell to the lowest level in the pandemic, declining for a second straight week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Initial weekly US jobless claims came in at 751,000 for the week ending Oct. 24, down 40,000 from the previous week. It was the lowest initial claims total since the week of March 14, when they came in at 282,000.

 

Coming off the worst quarter in history, the US economy grew at its fastest pace ever in the third quarter as a nation battered by an unprecedented pandemic started to put itself back together, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Third-quarter gross domestic product, a measure of the total goods and services produced in the July-to-September period, expanded at a 33.1% annualized pace, according to the department’s initial estimate for the period.

The gain came after a 31.4% plunge in the second quarter and was better than the 32% estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The previous post-World War II record was the 16.7% burst in the first quarter of 1950.

 

The ECB on Thursday opted to hold interest rates steady and keep its broader monetary policy environment unchanged despite the reimposition of fresh lockdown measures across the continent. But it suggested that additional policy action in the euro zone could come as soon as December.

 

The UK on Thursday is expected to lambast both the EU and the US over their “pernicious” trade practices as the country looks to secure post-Brexit trading arrangements with both key allies.

 

Euro zone economic sentiment was unchanged in October from the previous month, slightly exceeding expectations to come in at 90.6.

 

Key economic data slated for release today include Germany retail sales for September and seasonally adjusted third-quarter GDP, Euro zone unadjusted consumer price index (CPI) for October, third-quarter GDP after seasonal adjustments and unemployment rate for September, and US personal expenditure for September and University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index for October.

Macroeconomics

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