After yesterday’s extreme Stock Market session, Traders are taking somewhat of a break.
The quotes in the headline, are due to the fact that even in a muted session, large movements are still observed, but with the new phase in Markets, they remain more concentrated.
The main culprit of today’s action was once again Crude Oil, rallying from the lack of concrete headlines regarding US-Iran talks, that were supposed to take place today but instead got previewed by President Trump for this weekend.
Some great news came from the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire which got agreed this morning to take place immediately. It is a great step towards a longer-standing peace process between the two neighbors, but doubts will remain on Lebanon’s ability to disarm Hezbollah, (who are still eager to wage war against Israel) the most essential element for a longer-run peace process .
The news took out a few dollars off of the 4% daily rally in Black Gold.
In any case, this was the final demand from the Iranian side to participate in the second round of talks.
While Nasdaq printed some new all-time highs and US Indexes grinded higher, their action was quite contained from the absence of clarity.
With no particular data releases (except for a small miss in Australian Employment) and a few Fed Speeches, the situation really did not change much.
Central Bankers are all confused and unsure of what to communicate from the ongoing uncertainty, as NY Fed’s Williams confirmed in his speech.
