US MARKET WRAP – Stocks Recover, Although Volume Remains Subdued

Risk sentiment turned positive today as base metals continued to rally alongside strong European corporate earnings from the materials sector, while US tech names bounced, although news flow was once again light.

The USD pared yesterday’s losses as Germany’s ZEW expectations survey weighed on the EUR after it missed expectations, while the JPY was lower as risk sentiment improved. The greenback also managed to push higher against the commodity currencies despite the uptick in base metals and a strong Canadian core retail sales release.

US stocks ended the day higher, with the Nasdaq outperforming. The S&P 500 closed up 0.99% at 2,452.49, the NASDAQ closed up 1.50 % at 5,873.33 and the Dow closed up 0.90% at 21,899.96.

US Treasuries ground lower as risk ticked higher, although the trade in the space was uneventful. It is worth noting that the JPMorgan client survey revealed that the bank’s Treasury clients were holding relatively neutral positions heading into the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Symposium later this week. US Sep’17 10y T-note futures settled at 126.18, down 9 ticks.

Oil ended the day higher with WTI crude futures settling at USD 47.64/bbl, up USD 0.27 as traders await the weekly API crude inventory release. The uptick came despite Libya’s Sharara oil field coming back online (albeit intermittently at first) and the US DoE selling some 14mln bbl of the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

22 Aug 2017 - 21:00- Metals- Source: RANsquawk