At the beginning of this week, traders were left reeling as financial markets took a significant hit on Monday, August 5. Indices plummeted by up to 5% in a single day, with some stocks, like Intel, falling as much as 20-30%. Several factors contributed to this downturn, including weak U.S. labor market data and the Federal Reserve's decision to hold the key interest rate steady until the fall. Read on to find out what happened and how the markets are performing today.
*It is important to remember to assess your financial situation and risk tolerance, before engaging in copy trading. Past performance and forecast are not reliable indicators of future results.
**Data is sourced from publicly available information on NAGA Feed at the time of preparing this material and may be subject to change.
US stocks tumble on fears over slower growth
US stock markets fell sharply on Monday following falls in Europe and Asia as fears rose that the American economy is heading for a slowdown.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq index opened 6.3% lower after a sharp decline at the end of last week, but pared it loses during the day.
The other main US indexes also opened sharply down, while stock markets in Europe and Asia plunged with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling by some 12.4%.
It comes after weak jobs data in the US on Friday sparked concerns about the world's largest economy.
The US Federal Reserve also held off cutting interest rates last week — something that typically boosts growth — in contrast to other central banks such as the Bank of England.
Trading involves significant risk of loss.
Intel’s stock is down 38% in a week
Intel Corp. ($INT) shares are down 38% over the past five sessions, and declines of that magnitude can sometimes prompt upgrades from analysts who see a buying opportunity in the weakness.
But in Intel’s case, the semiconductor stock just received yet another downgrade. Mizuho’s Vijay Rakesh cut his rating on Intel shares to neutral from outperform after Wednesday’s closing bell, writing of “a tough road ahead to regain leadership.”
Trading involves significant risk of loss.
Oil prices down over US recession fears
Oil prices extended losses over demand worries triggered by recession fears in the US, the world's largest oil consumer.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $76.46 per barrel, a fall of 0.46% from the closing price of $76.81 per barrel in the previous trading session.
The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $73.19 per barrel at the same time, a 0.45% decrease from the previous session that closed at $73.52 per barrel. The US economy added 114,000 jobs in July, significantly below market estimates of 176,000, according to figures released by the Labor Department on Friday.
Data fueled worries that the central bank could have been too late to ease its monetary policy, pushing the US economy into a recession.
Trading involves significant risk of loss.
EUR/USD holds position above 1.0900 after breaking its losing streak
EUR/USD halts its three-day losing streak, trading around 1.0920 during the Asian session on Friday. The upside of the $EURUSD pair could be attributed to the downbeat US Dollar (USD), which could be attributed to heightened expectations of a dovish policy outlook by the US Federal Reserve (Fed).
However, the EUR/USD pair faced challenges as US Initial Jobless Claims fell to 233,000 for the week ending August 2, coming in below the market expectation of 240,000. This decline follows an upwardly revised figure of 250,000 for the previous week, which was the highest in a year.
Trading involves significant risk of loss.
This concludes our weekly recap. Have a great weekend and see you next week! 👋
