Today's key market insights

US markets

Stock futures were down overnight after a volatile trading day in U.S. markets.

• Some companies had to halt trading on the Nasdaq due to a technical glitch in the morning, with many trades being reversed. This led to unexpected movements, such as Palantir falling 17% on opening before recovering almost all of its losses to finish down 2% on the day.

• Microsoft has been volatile in after-hours trading. The company’s quarterly earnings came in above estimates thanks to strong growth in cloud services, but its revenue forecast for the current quarter fell below what analysts had expected.

• The current 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is set at 3.45440%.

Market	Price	Move
Dow Jones	33,375.49	1.00%
S&P 500	3,972.61	1.89%
Nasdaq	11,140.44	2.66%
Russell 2000	1,867.34	1.69%

 

Canadian markets

Urbanation, a real estate consulting firm, has released a report looking into Toronto’s rental market last year.

• Despite a decline in housing prices in 2022, rent increased by 16.9% in the city, whereas it saw a 0.5% decrease in 2021.

• The increase is mainly due to immigrants and foreign students moving to the city once pandemic-related restrictions were lifted. Rising interest rates led to a decline in first-time homebuyers, which increased the demand for rentals.

• The average monthly rental price for a condo in Toronto was $2,752 at the end of last year, $391 more than in December 2021.

• Rental constructions decreased by 54% in 2022, showing that supply is unlikely to increase in the short term.

Market	Price	Move
TSX	20,503.21	0.80%

 

European markets

European markets were up slightly on Friday after falling on Thursday following a strong start to the week that saw the FTSE hit a new high.

• The Stoxx 600 rose 0.35% on Friday, led by travel stocks, which gained 1.2%.

• For the week, the Stoxx 600 lost 0.3%, with most of those losses coming during a sell-off on Thursday in response to weak corporate earnings and economic data from the U.S.

• Cellnex, a Spanish telecom company, was the best-performing stock in the Stoxx 600 on Friday, gaining 8.9%.

• Close Brothers, a British banking group, was the worst-performing stock, falling 10.3%.

Market	Price	Move
Euro STOXX 50	4,119.90	0.63%
UK (FTSE 100)	7,770.59	0.30%
Germany (DAX)	15,033.56	0.76%
France (CAC 40)	6,995.99	0.63%

 

Asian markets

Stocks In Asia were up on Friday despite Japan’s inflation hitting a 41-year high.

• Singapore’s tourism board said that despite China’s reopening, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the island country is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels this year.

• Stocks in China continue to have positive momentum following the country’s lifting of most Covid restrictions, with the Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, and Shenzhen Component all rising last week.

• The Nikkei rose on Friday after new data showed that consumer prices rose by 4% in December on an annualized basis, a 41-year high. The index fell on Thursday in response to the Bank of Japan unexpectedly maintaining its monetary policy.

Market	Price	Move
S&P Asia 50	4,984.70	1.35%
Japan (Nikkei 225)	26,553.53	0.56%
South Korea (KOSPI)	2,395.26	0.63%
China (Hang Seng)	22,044.65	1.82%
India (SENSEX)	60,621.77	-0.39%

 

Commodities

Oil prices lost ground as concerns about an economic downturn resurfaced and investors became increasingly wary of the U.S.’s buildup of oil inventories.

• Brent crude lost 1.3% on the day and U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 1.2%.

• JP Morgan believes that oil prices are unlikely to rise above $100 per barrel in 2023 unless geopolitical tensions drive prices up.

• OPEC+ is expected to announce that it will maintain its current output level when it meets next week.

Market	Price	Move
Oil (NYSEARCA: OIL)	28.10	1.21%
Gold (NYSEARCA: GLD)	173.71	-0.33%
Silver (NYSEARCA: SLV)	21.92	0.27%
Corn (NYSEARCA: CORN)	25.93	0.00%
Lumber (NASDAQ: WOOD)	75.43	0.78%

 

Currency exchange rates

The U.S. dollar continues falling while the Euro is making gains amid reports that the Eurozone may avoid a recession this year.

• The Euro is less than half a cent from a nine-month high against the USD.

• The British Pound was down after data indicated that economic activity in the U.K. may have declined in January.

• The USD continues to gain on the Yen after hitting an eight-month low last week.

Market	Price	Move
UK(GBP)	£0.81	-0.32%
Europe (EURO)	€0.92	-0.73%
Canada (Canadian Dollar)	$1.34	-0.75%
Japan (Yen)	¥129.56	0.76%

 

Cryptocurrency

Crypto prices were slightly down on Tuesday as the broader technology industry fell.

• QuickNode raised another $60M in a Series B round that values the company at $800M.

• Porsche paused its NFT project after backlash against the initiative.

• Coinbase reported an increase in transaction volumes in January.

Market	Price	Move
Bitcoin	$22,643.90	9.53%
Ethereum	$1,663.62	7.25%
Litecoin	$90.24	7.14%
Bitcoin Cash	$128.30	8.11%

 

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