asia morning oct 21

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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Asia Morning: U.S. Stocks Gain on Reignited Stimulus Hopes

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 113 points (+0.40%) to 28308, the S&P 500 added 16 points (+0.47%) to 3443, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 43 points (+0.37%) 11677.


Dow Jones Industrial Average (Daily Chart) : Still Bullish

Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview that she is hopeful for an agreement on a fiscal stimulus package this week. 

Automobiles & Components (+3.51%), Banks (+1.32%) and Consumer Services (+1.19%) sectors gained the most. Cimarex Energy (XEC +7.67%), General Motors (GM +6.75%) and Kohls Corp (KSS +6.61%) were top gainers.

International Business Machines (IBM -6.49%) gapped down to the bottom of the S&P after its third-quarter results missed expectations.

In after-market hours, Netflix (NFLX) plunged over 6% as the company said subscriber growth slowed in the third quarter.

Approximately 71% (75% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 66% (81% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

U.S. official data showed that housing starts rose to an annualized rate of 1.415 million units in September (1.465 million units expected).

European stocks lacked upward momentum. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.35%, Germany's DAX 30 dropped 0.92%, France's CAC 40 lost 0.27%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed.

U.S. Treasury prices eased further, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield advanced to 0.795% from 0.760% Monday.

Spot gold gained $6 (+0.31%) to $1,910 an ounce.

U.S. WTI crude futures (December) advanced $0.64 (+1.60%) to $41.70 a barrel.

On the forex front, the U.S. dollar got weaker against other major currencies as investors turned to riskier assets amid reignited stimulus hopes. The ICE Dollar Index lost 0.37% to 93.08 extending its losing streak to a third session.

EUR/USD regained the key 1.1800 level as it rose 0.45% to 1.1822. The pair has returned to levels above both 20-day and 50-day moving averages.

GBP/USD eased 6 pips to 1.2948. Talks over a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the European Union still showed no progress.

USD/JPY edged up to 105.49, while USD/CAD fell 0.48% to 1.3128.

AUD/USD sank a further 0.33% to 0.7047 posting a five-session decline.

The Chinese yuan stayed at an 18-month high against the dollar, with USD/CNH (offshore yuan) declining 0.25% to 6.6622.

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