No Surprises For Gold And Crude Headed Into Weekend As S&P Stays Quietly Firm

No one wants a headache on a holiday. Generally then, traders and investors slip out the side door early, especially the movers and shakers. Even Europe and Asia know the drill when the U.S. takes a deep breath, stuffs its collective face and lays back to watch some football and engage in the high-drama of family political discussion.

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving, markets in the U.S. are closed. On Friday they open at the normal time but close at 1 PM, Eastern Time. (That’s to give American markets a chance to react to anything dire.)

Asian equities were mixed, the Nikkei and Hang Seng off with Shanghai higher. Europe was the strongest equities player on the day, though.

The German DAX jumped 2.00%, the French CAC was up 1.50% while London’s FTSE came in with a rise just under 1.00%. Retail, materials and travel (of all things) led Europe higher. Materials’ uptick should come as no surprise in the wake of the announcement of an amazingly ambitious program in Great Britain.

The Conservative government said that it is going to go ahead and build (via changing formulas for mortgages) 400,000 new housing units by the end of the decade.

American stocks are struggling to stay in the green but are stumbling around the even mark. The holiday is the main culprit as no one wants to commit much financial or emotional energy with a long holiday coming up.

But the continuing depression in crude prices also hurts the Dow Jones and S&P, which in turn are having a slipstream effect upon the NASDAQ. Regardless of what goes on for the remainder of today, it’s been a great ride for those who came in early on our S&P trade.

Speaking of crude, West Texas Intermediate is trying to struggle back to its opening price as we get into mid-afternoon trading. Brent North Sea is also soft but trying to pull even.

U.S. manufacturing data for October came in at a robust growth rate, although it appears that overall Q4 expansion will be moderate. However, the manufacturing growth indicates that perhaps the worst of the effects from the dollar’s dizzying rise is over.

The dollar’s strength today again punished gold, which seems to be seeking fundamental direction at the moment. Even the tense lunacy between the Russians and Turks didn’t generate much haven interest.

For those who celebrate, have a happy Thanksgiving. It’s a good time for all of us to show our gratitude for the good things in life.

Wishing you as always, good trading and a happy Thanksgiving,