US Markets Mixed in Choppy Trading – Nasdaq up 0.35%
US stocks had a mixed day yesterday as investors digested concerns over the Fed along with a resilient tech sector. The Nasdaq again gained ground to hit another record close, adding 0.35% to finish the day at 21,242, while the other two major indices eased lower, the S&P down 0.08% to 6,340 and the Dow off 0.51% to 43,968. Treasury yields edged higher, the 2-year up 1.3 basis points to 3.727%, and the 10-year up 1.2 basis points to 4.250%. The dollar drifted lower, the DXY down 0.10% to 98.08, mainly on the back of a sterling rally after a hawkish interest rate cut from the Bank of England. Oil prices fell again on confirmation that Presidents Trump and Putin will meet, Brent down 0.79% to $66.36 and WTI down 0.82% to $63.82. Gold, however, pushed higher again, adding 0.80% on the day to close at $3,394.55.
Potential Event Risk Over the Weekend for Traders
It looks like being a relatively quiet end to the trading week today; however, traders are more than aware of the propensity for updates to come over the weekend when markets are closed that could lead to sharp moves on the Monday open. Updates continue to come thick and fast out of the White House, and this weekend is expected to be no different. Main points of concern for investors are updates on the Federal Reserve Bank, which has been in Trump’s crosshairs for a while, along with any trade updates, as well as a pending meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. All of these issues could potentially see a big update over the weekend, which will lead to big moves on Monday’s open, so even though markets look relatively subdued at the moment, they could ignite swiftly, and traders need to remain on their toes.
Quiet Calendar Day to Close Out the Trading Week
It is a quiet calendar day today to close out what has been a relatively quiet trading week. Asian markets are expected to drift lower on the open after a mixed day on Wall Street, and traders are expecting to see rangebound conditions for the majority of the session. Japanese markets will come into focus early in the day with the Bank of Japan’s Summary of Opinions due out. There is very little scheduled in the European session, although sterling traders will be interested to see what the MPC’s Pill has to say midway through the day after yesterday’s rate call. The main scheduled event of the day will come shortly after the New York open with the Canadian employment data due out. Markets are expecting there to have been an additional 15k jobs added last month; however, the unemployment rate is expected to have increased 0.1% to 7.0%, with anything higher likely to see further pressure on the loonie.
The post General Market Analysis – 8/08/25 first appeared on IC Markets | Official Blog.