|

Wall Street ends the week on a high note

Although the recent developments surrounding the political turmoil in the U.S. forced the major equity indexes in the U.S. to retrace most of their earnings, they closed the last day of the week higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 141.82 points, or 0.69%, to 20,804.84, the S&P 500 rose 16.01 points, or 0.68%, to 2,381.73, but lost 0.4% on a weekly basis as Wednesday's drop of 1.8% was too big to retrace. Finally, the heavy-tech Nasdaq Composite gained 28.57 points, or 0.47%, to 6,083.70.

After a strong opening, at one point in the session, the indexes were up more than 1%. However, a recent report by Washington Post claimed that the investigators were focusing on a current White House official as a person of interest in their probe of Russian influence on the Trump's election victory, and triggered a bout of risk aversion, causing the investors to cash in their profits before they break for the weekend.

Furthermore, a separate article by the NY Times claimed that in a document summarizing the meeting that took place on May 10 between President Trump and Russian officials, Trump was quoted saying "I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job."

Headlines from the U.S. session:

Author

Eren Sengezer

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

More from Eren Sengezer
Share:

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD off highs, back to around 1.1900

EUR/USD keeps its strong bid bias in place despite recedeing to the 1.1900 zone following earlier peaks north of 1.1900 the figure on Monday. The US Dollar remains under pressure, as traders stay on the sidelines ahead of Wednesday’s key January jobs report, leaving the pair room to extend its upward trend for now.

GBP/USD hits three-day peaks, targets 1.3700

GBP/USD is clocking decent gains at the start of the week, advancing to three-day highs near 1.3670 and building on Friday’s solid performance. The better tone in the British Pound comes on the back of the intense sekk-off in the Greenback and despite re-emerging signs of a fresh government crisis in the UK.

Gold picks up pace, retargets $5,100

Gold gathers fresh steam, challenging daily highs en route to the $5,100 mark per troy ounce in the latter part of Monday’s session. The precious metal finds support from fresh signs of continued buying by the PBoC, while expectations that the Fed could lean more dovish also collaborate with the uptick.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin steadies around $70,000, Ethereum and XRP remain under pressure 

Bitcoin hovers around $70,000, up near 15% from last week's low of $60,000 despite low retail demand. Ethereum delicately holds $2,000 support as weak technicals weigh amid declining futures Open Interest. XRP seeks support above $1.40 after facing rejection at $1.54 during the previous week's sharp rebound.

Japanese PM Takaichi nabs unprecedented victory – US data eyed this week

I do not think I would be exaggerating to say that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s snap general election gamble paid off over the weekend – and then some. This secured the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) an unprecedented mandate just three months into her tenure.

Ripple exposed to volatility amid low retail interest, modest fund inflows

Ripple (XRP) is extending its intraday decline to around $1.40 at the time of writing on Monday amid growing pressure from the retail market and risk-off sentiment that continues to keep investors on the sidelines.