Trading on Black Friday was without volume and drama
On Black Friday, trading was quiet and the day was short. Stocks ended mixed. In the US, no significant economic statistics or earnings reports were announced. Financial markets in the US were closed on Thursday. The U.S. stock market ended trading on Friday at 1:00 p.m. ET.
The S&P 500 fluctuated throughout the whole session. The index ended the week on its highest level since September 9th. Next week’s jobs report and speeches by central bank leaders like Fed Chair Jerome Powell and New York Fed President John Williams will be the focus of attention. Additionally, Black Friday sales and new details on the virus epidemic in China will influence trading on Monday.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 152.42 points, or 0.45%, at 34,346.48 earlier in the day. The largest gains were made by shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Home Depot Inc. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 36.70 points, or 0.33%, to 11,248.61, while the S&P 500 increased 3.41 points, or 0.08%, to 4,030.67. As the closing bell announced the end of today’s session, the S&P 500 was down 0.03%. Dow kept its gains at 0.45%, and the Nasdaq fell further down 0.52%.
Third consecutive weekly loss for oil
Investors’ attention is still focused on the energy markets. WTI crude oil is currently down approximately 1.5% after rising by about 3% early on Friday. This decline follows a dip in oil prices on Wednesday that sent them back approaching their 2022 lows.
European Union officials put a halt to discussions over restricting the price of Russian oil. Poland and the Baltic nations objected to a plan they considered to be too mild toward Moscow. Diplomats had anticipated reaching an agreement on Friday evening, however the meeting will continue on Monday.
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As a shipping nation, Greece favors a higher level of the cap. This would assist maintaining commerce. The negotiations have been difficult since the cap, at $65, is more than the rates that Russia is currently accepting for its crude oil. Moscow may act business as usual and everything will resume as normal as a result. The Kremlin had previously stated that it would not supply oil to anybody who agreed to the cap. However, on Thursday, it seemed to be softening its position.
Brent Oil futures had lost 17 cents and were trading at $85.17 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3 cents to $77.91 a barrel. Due to Thanksgiving in the United States, there was no WTI settlement on Thursday, and trade volumes were low.
Dollar still slipping
The Dollar Index, dropped by 0.1% to 105.840, marking a weekly loss of more than 1%. This was a move very near to the three-month low of 105.30 reached last week. Fed slowing down the rate hikes caused U.S. treasury rates to fall as well. They were on seven-week lows earlier Friday, which negatively impacted the dollar recently.
The data was showing that Germany’s economy expanded somewhat more than anticipated in the third quarter. This helped EUR/USD rise 0.1% to 1.0418, closing near on the four-month high of 1.0481 reached last week. By the end of the US session, the dollar regained a little of its power to 1.0402 ending basically where it started the session.
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GBP/USD decreased by 0.2% to 1.2087, remaining close to the three-month high of 1.2153 set in the previous session and on pace for a gain of about 2% for the week. After data revealed that inflation in Tokyo hit a 40-year high in November, USD/JPY increased 0.2% to 138.81. This is signaling an increased inflationary pressure for the nation.
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