- Nasdaq 100 at new highs, futures less bullish
- Australian dollar awaits RBA amidst pandemic worries
- US Corona-case growth slows; adds to market optimism
Nasdaq 100 surged to a record high, climbing 1.47 Percent, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones also gained by 0.72 Percent and 0.89 Percent respectively. Bucking the trend of overall bullishness was the Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar, both traded cautiously. Haven-oriented US dollar has also shown gains for the day.
Investors continued to bet on FAANG group of stocks and also looked past the impasse in Congress to agree on the next stimulus bill; earlier one expired on Friday and had offered 600 dollars benefits per week.
US President Donald Trump hinted that certain unemployment benefits might be extended through executive orders. The relaxation is supposed to include pausing evictions.
The growth in Covid-19 cases also slowed down in the past 24 hours compared to the daily average for the week.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars suffered early losses and then fought back in later sessions. The earlier fall was mainly attributed to the declaration of the state of emergency in Australia’s Victoria State to fight against the pandemic.
Gold and oil prices had a flat Monday close, while the Canadian dollar outpaced other major currencies.
It was expected that Asian markets would have a good-day today based on the strength in Wall Street on Monday. AUD/ USD and NZD/USD were supposed to be bullish on Tuesday Asia Pacific session with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) policy decision hogging the limelight.
