Asia Morning August 24

Asia Morning: S&P, Nasdaq 100 Break Records Again

On Friday, U.S. stocks charged higher, as both the S&P 500 (+11 points or 0.34% to 3397) and the Nasdaq 100 (+78 points or 0.68% to 11555) marked record closes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 190 points (+0.69%) to 27930.

S&P 500 Index: Daily Chart

Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView

Market sentiment was supported by upbeat economic data. The Markit U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Mangers' Index (preliminary reading) spiked to 53.6 in August (52.0 expected), and the Services PMI jumped to 54.8 (51.0 expected). Existing Home Sales surged to an annualized rate of 5.86 million units in July (5.41 million expected).

Technology Hardware & Equipment (+4.15%), Consumer Durables & Apparel (+1.37%) and Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (+1.3%) sectors performed the best. Apple (AAPL +5.15%), NVIDIA Corp (NVDA +4.47%), Estee Lauder (EL +4.41%) and Deere (DE +4.40%) were top gainers.

Electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA +2.41% to $2,049.98) also closed at record high.

Approximately 59.8% (60.2% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 54.30% (63.2% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

European stocks remained under pressure. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.15%, Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.51%, France's CAC 40 dropped 0.30%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.19%.

U.S. government bonds prices were stable, as the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield eased further to 0.638% from 0.644% Thursday.

Spot gold lost $6.00 (-0.35%) to $1,940 an ounce, and spot silver slid 1.64% to $26.79 an ounce.

U.S. WTI crude oil futures (September) slipped 1.1% to $42.34 a barrel.

On the forex front, the U.S. dollar strengthened against its major peers, with the ICE Dollar Index climbing 0.4% on day to 93.20.

EUR/USD dropped 0.5% to 1.1795. Research firm Markit reported that the eurozone's Manufacturing PMI dropped to 51.7 in August (52.7 expected) from 51.8 in July and Services PMI declined to 50.1 (54.5 expected) from 54.7, suggesting a loss of momentum in the bloc's economic recovery.

GBP/USD sank 1.0% to 1.3087. European Union's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said "at this stage, an agreement between the U.K. and the E.U. seems unlikely". On the other hand, official data showed that U.K. retail sales grew 3.6% on month in July (+2.0% expected). Meanwhile, the Markit U.K. Manufacturing PMI rose to 55.3 in August (54.0 expected) from 53.3 in July and Services PMI climbed to 60.1 (57.0 expected) from 56.5.

USD/JPY was little changed at 105.78.

USD/CAD slipped 0.1% to 1.3175. Government data showed that Canada's retail sales increased 23.7% on month in June (+24.5% expected).

Other commodity-linked currencies were mixed against the greenback. AUD/USD climbed 0.2% to 0.7196 while NZD/USD lost 0.3% to 0.6535. Official data showed that New Zealand's 2Q retail sales declined 14.6% on quarter (-15.0% expected).

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