STOCK PRICES AND NEWS
Travelers stock advances strongly on Q4 underwriting margins, investment gains Premium
Travelers hits earnings expectation out of the park in Q4. Revenue rises 20% above same quarter in 2023. Underwriting margins expand, and investment income soars. Market surges as Netflix earnings pull NASDAQ higher.
Latest stock news
NASDAQ
Latest Nasdaq News
S&P 500
Latest S&P 500 Analysis
US EQUITY INDICES
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average of 30 significant stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. The old economy stocks are said to be represented by the Dow. The Dow tends to be the leading indicator for international investment.
While the Dow reflects the BIG money, S&P 500 reflects the broader view is the preferred gauge of equity markets due to its bread coverage of the market. Historically it has shown a negative correlation to the yen (even on an intraday basis). It is a market value-weighted index made up of the prices of 500 large stocks traded in the US market, covering about 75% of US equities.
Nasdaq Composite is highly followed in the U.S. as an indicator of the performance of stocks of technology companies and growth companies. Since both U.S. and non-U.S. companies are listed on the NASDAQ stock market, the index is not exclusively a U.S. Index. The NASDAQ represents the speculative retail money.
Generally speaking, if the U.S. equity markets rise, they cause an increase in investors' risk appetite in which case foreign investment dollars will flock the U.S. equity market pumping the U.S. dollar higher.
EUROPEAN EQUITY INDICES
Germany DAX - Daily
UK FTSE 100 - Daily
The Deutscher Aktien Index, or DAX 30 for short, is the blue-chip market index for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It follows the top 30 German stocks on the electronic Xetra system that is used on the exchange. The DAX indices are all calculated using capitalization-weighted index using the total return Laspeyres index for calculations.
Called the footsie, the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 is a market capitalization-weighted index representing the top 100 blue-chip companies on the London Stock Exchange. The index is said to map more than 80% of the total capitalization in the United Kingdom. Stocks are free-float weighted to ensure that only the investable opportunity set is included within the index.
The constituents of the index are revised every 3 months, based on market capitalization. For this reason, the FTSE 100 should not be assessed for any market breadth index, other than for the recent period for which the components have remained unchanged.
JAPANESE EQUITY INDICES
The Nikkei is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It has been calculated daily by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) newspaper since 1950. It is a price-weighted average (the unit is yen), and the components are reviewed once a year. This market is close correlated with US 10-Year Treasury notes. It's also useful to spot risk appetite and gauge FX flows.
Usually it's negatively correlated to the Yen. It can be explained as a reasonable decline in the yen usually lifts stocks of export-oriented companies (cheaper Japanese products), which tends to boost the overall stock index.
But the Nikkei-yen relationship is sometimes reversed (positive correlation): wherein a strong open market in the Nikkei tends to boost the yen (weighs on USD/JPY) as investors’ funds flow into yen-denominated stocks.
Nikkei225 - Daily
Relationships between stocks and currencies
Currencies are probably the most difficult asset class to fit into a consistent or idealized intermarket model. To start with, think that in order to purchase stocks from a particular country, investors must pay in the local currency, increasing the demand for it. The other way round, a strong currency makes bonds and stocks from that particular country look attractive.
In any case, the correlation is not always clear, there are response lags between each of the markets' reactions, Forex and equities, which leaves the investor holding foreign equities exposed to exchange rate fluctuations.
This correlation can also be fragile among international equity markets themselves. There are so-called "global divergences" when the stock market in one country starts performing better than the stock market in another country. Currency driven capital flows from the country with the weaker stock market to the country with the stronger stock market, is often the cause.
US Dollar Index - Daily
Latest STOCK INDICES Analysis
Editors' picks
EUR/USD hovers near 1.0400 as focus shifts to US data
EUR/USD trades listlessly near 1.0400 in the European session on Thursday. The pair stays defensive as US President Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the Eurozone. Further, ECB rate cut expectations also weigh on the major alongside fresh US Dollar demand ahead of US data.
GBP/USD turns lower to near 1.2300 as US Dollar stabilizes ahead of data
GBP/USD has come under renewed selling pressure and battles 1.2300 in the European trading hours on Thursday. The pair meets supply as the US Dollar stabilizes and traders digest US President Trump's tariff talks, gearing up for the mid-tier US economic data later in the day.
Japanese Yen bulls seem reluctant amid positive risk tone; focus remains on BoJ
The Japanese Yen drifts lower for the second successive day against its American counterpart. A further recovery in the US bond yields underpins the USD and supports the USD/JPY pair. Traders now look to Trump’s speech for a fresh impetus ahead of the BoJ decision on Friday.
Gold price sticks to negative bias, remains close to multi-month peak set on Wednesday
Gold price (XAU/USD) remains depressed through the first half of the European session on Thursday and for now, seems to have snapped a three-day winning streak to its highest level since early November touched the previous day.
WTI drops to near $75.00 due to uncertain potential impact of Trump’s proposed tariffs
WTI price depreciates due to uncertainty surrounding the impact of President Trump's proposed tariffs and energy policies. API Weekly Crude Oil Stock rose by 1 million barrels in the previous week. Trump threatened to impose "high levels" of sanctions and tariffs on Russian imports.