Today’s Outlook:
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly lower on Thursday (16/11/23) triggered by a drop in Walmart shares and fears of an economic slowdown following the release of lower-than-expected economic data. Initial Jobless Claims were released at 231k, higher than the forecast of 220k jobless claims last week. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Manufacturing Index, which measures business conditions in Philadelphia, is still in contractionary territory despite improving slightly above forecasts. Both of the above data raised concerns of an economic slowdown situation, just at a time when the Fed is expected to keep interest rates high for some time. As if to echo those thoughts, Industrial Production (Oct) also extended its contraction and was the lowest negative growth in 4 months. Tonight at around 20:30 GMT, the Building Permits and Housing Starts (Oct) data will be awaited, which will assess the health of the US property sector.
• COMMODITIES: Energy stocks fell more than 2% as Crude Oil prices plunged below USD73/barrel triggered by demand concerns. Chinese refineries processed less Oil in October than the previous month, raising questions whether the demand outlook from the world’s largest Oil importer is weakening, as the global economic slowdown also weighs on the upside potential of Crude Oil prices. Oil prices slumped nearly 5% to their lowest point in 4 months, dragging Brent down to USD 77.42/barrel, while WTI dropped to USD 72.90/barrel. Speaking of supply-demand, OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have both predicted that inventories will get tighter in the 4th quarter of this year, but at the same time data from the US shows that their stockpiles are abundant; making Crude Oil prices lose its competitiveness.
• EUROPEAN MARKETS: Several economic data will be awaited from the European continent; starting from the UK, which this afternoon will release Retail Sales growth (Oct.), followed by important macroeconomic data from the Eurozone, CPI (Oct.) where the Inflation rate is expected to soften to 2.9% yoy, from 4.3% in the previous month.
• JCI: JCI’s brief step back was deemed reasonable as a mere Support test, given that it rose high through crucial Resistance the day before. However, the Doji candle that was created when the JCI approached the 7000 area is enough to make investors/traders cautious about positioning this weekend. NHKSI RESEARCH suggests not to Average Up too much while watching the market interest in general.
Company News
• ITMG : Coal Production and Sales Volume Increase
• TPIA : Business Diversification
• MBMA : Disbursed USD28.05 Million Loan to Subsidiary
Domestic & Global News
• Airlangga Asks Australia to Continuously Provide Indonesia with Wheat and Beef
• Joe Biden Meets Xi Jinping, as US and China Are Still in Competition
Download full report HERE.
