We ended the week on a positive note with world indexes moving slightly higher. The US stock markets erased loses and edged higher. European earnings also showed signs of good health in bank and media stocks. In Asia, the picture is a little different with Chinese CPI and PPI data coming out lower than expected. This drove the shares of other Asian companies down as well.
The dollar continues its advance. Investors see a global slowdown but figure the US economy to be the biggest and strongest so they put their bets on it coming out ahead. Trump has signed a shutdown avoidance agreement but is now pushing for a national emergency in order to siphon funds from the budget agreed on by congress. Very sticky situation that could lead to a fall in the dollar if the funds are misappropriated.
GBPUSD
The pound is continuing its decline. We see more turmoil than solutions being propagated in the UK. Prime Minister Theresa May faced hardships yet again from her Parliament when they refused to endorse her return to the EU negotiating table. Who will be in charge of the negotiations remains to be seen. We remain bearish on the whole situation because the deadline is quickly approaching.
We look towards the employment data set on Tuesday to figure out if inflation will stay within the bounds of its mandate and if the Bank of England will change its monetary policy because of sharp declines in employment or earnings. After all this data is compiled, we will see an inflation report on Thursday.
Technical analysis shows us that the pound will likely continue its descent. Two doji candles indicate that despite a good data set from the UK the pound is not ready to climb back to previous highs. The price crossed over the 21 EMA and remains under the 200 EMA. A support level at 1.26734 is a good level to put target take-profits.
WTI Crude
Oil climbed, and broke through the neckline of the reverse head and shoulders pattern that has been in play for the past few months. The growth was due to supply cuts and reduced output from OPEC countries. Russia has also agreed to participate in the cutbacks. Saudia Arabia will be repairing a damaged offshore field, and this will decrease supply and increase the price of oil in the week to come. In total oil rose 4.2% the past week. Gains are being stifled by a few factors as well. US inventories are rising, the global slowdown is decreasing demand, and US output is at a record high. To counterbalance this Chinese imports of oil are rising by about 4.8% each quarter for the past three quarters.
Starting on the week of February 18th China-US trade talks will continue in Washington as the leaders of both nations will sit down to reach an agreement before March 1st. Also the US may put sanctions on Venezuelan exports and further decrease world supply.
So long as WTI stays above 54.00 we see a bullish play in motion. If and when oil breaks through the Fibonacci resistance level of 38.2% at the price of 55.63 we will see the biggest spike up. The next level of resistance is the 200-EMA. The first target of the bullish movement is 57.34 and the next target is 59.00.
Analytical department of Olymp Trade.
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