US equities closed the second week of June marginally in the green following on the amazing reversal of the first week, yet the markets seem to be losing steam as we approach the two days meeting of the FOMC this coming Tuesday and await the tone and forward guidance from Chairman Powell on Wednesday.
The Nasdaq and the Russell2000 managed also to hang on to modest gains, Amazon and Facebook overperformed for the Nasdaq this week as oppose to a dismal performance from the semis, down near 2% and dragging Nasdaq overall performance lower.
The agenda is now dominated by the upcoming Fed as the markets prices in an 80% move lower in rates in July and looking ahead to the Trump Xi Ping meeting at the G20 meetings two weeks away. Economic data coming out this week did not make for more clarity in the markets however the continuation of strength despite the aggressive move of last week suggests that profit taking was marginal.
Looking further ahead to the upcoming earnings season in three weeks analyst project lower than expected earnings from S&P500 companies with large international exposure, a dramatic shift that will tamper with global growth trends and may reduce GDP future projections.
Looking at individual stocks stellar IPO BYND continues to make global headlines and nearly peaked over the $190 per share level on news that its major rival Incredible Foods suffered supply disruptions. AMZN is now the only big cap that has only "Buy" rating from its covering analysts, only 3 other stocks have only "Buy" ratings according to FactSet.
Commodities markets had seen a stellar week for Gold until yesterday when the price of Gold turned sharply lower by more than 1.5%, reversing from 2019 highs of $1,358 down 17 dollars on dollar strength and some move away from safety. Yet the $1,400 target is within reach for Gold if the Fed outlook and global markets trends will collide with the trade war and global growth near term.
Oil managed to survive another red week that’s thanks to the Middle East Iran tensions however the outlook near term looks to be for another leg lower, towards the $50 per barrel support level.