Asian stocks and American futures rose slightly as investors attempted to move on past second coronavirus wave fears. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up by 60 points while the Shanghai composite rose by 10 points. In the United States, futures tied to the Dow Jones and Nasdaq rose by 180 and 67 points respectively. The gains come after US stocks paused on Friday after Apple said it would close some of its stores as new coronavirus cases continued to rise. Analysts fear that other companies will follow these footsteps as more cases rise.
The price of crude oil rose slightly during the Asian session as traders reflected on falling US rigs. In a report on Friday, Baker Hughes said that the number of oil rigs dropped by 10 to 189 in the previous week. These rigs have been on a downward trend since the year started, which is a good thing for oil markets at a time when demand is slowing. Later this week, we will receive the inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The US dollar declined slightly during the Asian session. Later today, the National Realtors Association (NRA) will release existing home sales numbers for May. This data measures the number of preowned homes that were sold during the month. As with new home sales data, it is an important measure of the health of the economy. Analysts expect the number to show that sales declined from the previous 4.33 million to 4.10 million. Other important numbers we expect today are the eurozone consumer confidence data, industrial trends orders from the UK, and monthly reports from the German central bank.
EUR/USD
The EUR/USD pair is trading at 1.1190, which is slightly above Friday’s low of 1.1167. On the four-hour chart, the price is slightly above the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. The MACD and stochastic oscillators are both in the oversold level while the price is slightly below the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages. The pair is likely to continue moving downwards as bears attempt to push it to the next support at 1.1150, which is slightly below the 38.2% retracement.
XBR/USD
The XBR/USD pair is trading at 42.10, which is slightly above Friday’s low of 40.90. On the four-hour chart, the price is above the 25-day and 50-day exponential moving averages. Also, it is on an upward trend that is also supported by the ascending white trend line. The RSI too has been moving upwards. Therefore, the price is likely to continue rising as bulls attempt to push the price to the next resistance at 43.26.
NZD/USD
The NZD/USD pair rose slightly as traders waited for the RBNZ decision tomorrow. The pair is trading at 0.6426, which is slightly higher than Friday’s close of 0.6378. On the four-hour chart, the price has moved slightly higher than the 100-day EMA while the MACD is slightly below the neutral line. The pair is likely to resume the downward trend later today.
