Yahoo Finance Top 5 Things That Moved Markets This Past Week
Investing.com – Take a peek at the top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this week.
Final Jobs Report of the Year Boosted Risk-on Sentiment
The US jobs market continue its post-hurricane recovery as nonfarm payroll on Friday showed the US economy created 228,000 jobs in November, while wage growth undershot expectations.
That added to risk-on sentiment as investors piled into US equities amid growing optimism on tax reform after the Senate this week agreed to talks with House of Representatives to reconcile their differences on a tax bill.
The tax bill is widely expected to provide the US economy with a fiscal lift, stoking expectations for a prolonged period of strong US economic growth, boosting demand for equities.
Investors, however, had to contend with a sell off earlier this week in tech stocks as traders were said to have reduced their bullish bets on tech names amid expectations that the potential of lower corporate taxes would provide more of boost to other sectors such as financials and energy.
The S&P 500 closed at record highs on Friday.
Traders Cheered the Bitcoin Bump, But Reversal Soon Followed
Bitcoin went on a wild ride rising to a record high on Friday before retreating sharply as traders appeared to take profit on an impressive rally this week ahead of the launch of bitcoin futures.
Cboe Global Markets said earlier this week it will start trading bitcoin futures on Dec. 10, after receiving the green light last week from US futures regulator Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The news comes after CME Group announced last week that it would launch bitcoin futures on Dec. 18.
The launch of futures trading would allow traders to place bearish bets on bitcoin, which could pressure the price of digital currency. Some market participants believe, however, that the launch of futures trading paves the way for bitcoin to become an established asset class, which would spur institutional demand.
Oil Attempted Comeback But Failed
Oil futures struggled to pare losses after falling sharply on Wednesday following the release of inventory data which pointed to possible demand weakness after gasoline inventories rose more than expected.
Sentiment on oil remained positive, however, as Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said oil prices were entering a phase of “gradual recovery” as demand for petroleum based products continued to outpace its historical average growth ahead of the winter peak period.
Crude futures for January delivery rose 1.2% to settle at $57.36 a barrel.
Sterling Slumped Amid “Buy The Rumor, Sell The News” Scenario
Sterling eased from two-month highs against the dollar after news reports emerged that the UK agreed to pay up to €50 billion to settle the so-called brexit divorce bill, as the UK seeks to negotiation its exit from European Union.
Sterling struggled to hold onto gains amid what many viewed as a “buy the rumor, sell the fact scenario” after the currency surged last week on rumours of an UK-EU divorce bill agreement first surfaced.
GBP/USD fell 0.62% to $1.3391.
Gold Prices Slipped to Third-Straight Weekly Loss
Gold prices ended the week languishing at five-month lows, pressured by a firmer dollar on signs of progress on tax reform and better-than-estimated nonfarm payrolls data.
The yellow metal’s bearish week comes just days ahead of Federal Open Market Committee two-day meeting on Dec. 12-13, during which central bank members are expected to vote to raise interest rates for the third time this year.
Gold Futures fell %0.24 to $1.250 on Friday.
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