Equity Market
As the market closed on January 11, 2024, the S&P 500 index settled at 4780.24, marking a slight decrease of 0.07%. The Dow 30 index, however, bucked the trend and closed at 37,711.02, reflecting a marginal increase of 0.04%. The Nasdaq index also saw an uptick, closing at 14,970.18, up by 0.54 points. Turning to the European market, the FTSE index closed at 7,576.59, witnessing a decrease of 0.98%, while the AEX index ended the day at 774.54, down by 0.48 points.
The dominant market news is 1) the U.S. non-farm payrolls for December 2024 surpassed expectations, with an increase of 216,000 jobs compared to the anticipated 170,000 and November’s 173,000. This data is being evaluated in light of the recent anticipation of early and aggressive rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year. The year-to-year percent change in average hourly earnings in the U.S. exceeded expectations at a positive 0.4%, while the quarter-to-quarter percentage also surpassed expectations at a positive 4.2%. Although a downward trend has been observed, these figures do not align with the Federal Reserve’s targets. Andrew Patterson, a senior international economist at Vanguard, suggests that the Federal Reserve’s goal of returning inflation to 2% presents a significant challenge. 2) The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December has seen a 0.3% increase, surpassing the estimated 0.2%. The CPI for the year 2023 closed at an increase of 3.4%, higher than the economists’ prediction of 3.2%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI also rose by 0.3% for the month and 3.9% from a year ago, again beating the respective estimates of 0.3% and 3.8%.
Bond Market
The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds has seen a significant increase, surpassing the 4.06% mark. This comes in the wake of the announcement of a higher-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December. As of 18:50 on January 11, 2024, the current yield of these bonds stands at 4.045%.
Crypto Market
Bitcoin ETFs have commenced trading on U.S. exchanges following approval from the SEC. The Bitcoin ETC is now available for trading at various platforms including Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, iShares, Valkyrie, Ark 21iShares, Invesco Galaxy, Vaneck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Franklin. The Spot Bitcoin ETF trading volume hit a staggering $1.74 billion within the first hour of trading. This development has triggered significant price movements in crypto products and related securities. Bitcoin (BTC) price has seen a substantial decrease to 42,001 Euro as of 18:30 on January 11, 2024. Ethereum’s Ether (ETH) price has also followed a downward trend, standing at 2,369.57 Euro at 18:30 on January 11, 2024. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (NYSE ARCA: GBTC), which has recently been converted into a spot ETF, recorded a price of 40.32 US at 18:35 on January 11, 2024, after reaching a 52-week high earlier in the day. Lastly, analysts have expressed concerns over the transaction business of Coinbase Global, Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN), which saw a drop of 8.47 at 18:40 on January 11, 2024.
Commodities and others
The gold price is 2,015.3 USD per ounce, witnessing a 0.46% drop, the oil price is 72.17 USD per barrel, witnessing a 1.18% increase, the natural gas price is 3.2 USD per MMBtu, witnessing a 5.2% increase, spotted at January 11, 2024, 19:15. The related market news are Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: CHK) and Southwestern Energy (NYSE: SWN) have agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.4 billion, which will create the biggest U.S. natural gas producer by market value and production.
As of 19:21 on January 11, 2024, the Volatility Index (VIX) stands at 12.62, marking a decrease of 0.55% today.
Flow Traders Investment Competition
New week, new leader in the Flow Traders Investment Competition! Floryn Traders has captured the first spot after, once again, a really good week with stable growth. Will they be able to keep the lead next week? Also Hercules found their way back into the competitions’ top 5! After losing a few positions last week they are back, will they be able to put more pressure on Floryn Traders? Furthermore, Andromeda has lost over 12% return during last week and therefore loses 26 positions… will they recover from this huge loss? Last but not least, we have got Brût Investments who are finally leaving behind the last few spots in the ranking. Let’s see if they can keep climbing the ranking!
