The major US stock indices are ending the day lower. The Dow Industrial Average is closing down (only 0.03% but still lower) for the 5th consecutive day. In the month of May, the Dow was only up one day (last Friday).

The final numbers are showing:

• Dow industrial average of -8.9 points or -0.03% at 33300.63
• S&P -6.56 points or -0.16% at 4124.07
• NASDAQ index -43.77 points or -0.36% at 12284.73
• Russell 2000 fell -3.85 points or -0.22% at 1740.84

For the trading week, the Dow and S&P are ending lower. The Nasdaq was up marginally:

• Dow industrial average fell -1.11%
• S&P index fell -0.29%
• NASDAQ index rose 0.4%
• Russell 2000 fell -1.08%

Looking at some of the big cap stocks this week:

• Alphabet surged 11.31%
• Microsoft fell -0.54%
• Apple fell -0.61%
• Nvidia fell -1.19%
• Meta rose 0.442%
• Amazon rose 4.35%
• Disney tumbled -8.45%
• Tesla felt -1.22%

The regional banks were under pressure this week:

• KRE ETF (regional bank ETF), -5.16%
• PacWest Bancorp, -21.01%
• Western alliance Bancorp, +1.14%
• First Horizon Corp, -11.61%
• Zion Bank -5.6%
• Citizens financial group -6.20%

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

The price of bitcoin has moved to a new low for the day, week, and month and traded at the lowest level since March 17.

Looking at the 4-hour chart, the price this week also fell below a neckline of a head and shoulder formation.

On the downside, the 38.2% retracement of the move up from the November 22 low would target $25,071. Ahead of that would be swing highs going back to February around the $25,270 level. Move below the 38.2% and the door opens for more selling momentum.

Moving back above the $27,000 level would probably disappoint sellers, and back above the broken neckline would also hurt the sellers looking for more follow-through selling off of the head and shoulders break.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

Below are the major releases for next week, organized by day, including expectations and previous release values:

Monday, May 15

• 8:30am: USD – Empire State Manufacturing Index
  • Expectation: -1.9
  • Previous: 10.8

Tuesday, May 16

• 2:00am: GBP – Claimant Count Change
  • Expectation: 31.2K
  • Previous: 28.2K
• 8:30am: CAD – CPI m/m
  • Previous: 0.5%
• 8:30am: CAD – Median CPI y/y
  • Previous: 4.6%
• 8:30am: CAD – Trimmed CPI y/y
  • Previous: 4.4%
• 8:30am: USD – Core Retail Sales m/m
  • Expectation: 0.3%
  • Previous: -0.8%
• 8:30am: USD – Retail Sales m/m
  • Expectation: 0.7%
  • Previous: -1.0%
• 9:30pm: AUD – Wage Price Index q/q
  • Expectation: 0.9%
  • Previous: 0.8%

Wednesday, May 17

• 5:50am: GBP – BOE Gov Bailey Speaks
• 9:30pm: AUD – Employment Change
  • Expectation: 25.0K
  • Previous: 53.0K
• 9:30pm: AUD – Unemployment Rate
  • Expectation: 3.5%
  • Previous: 3.5%

Thursday, May 18

• 8:30am: USD – Unemployment Claims
  • Expectation: 260K
  • Previous: 264K
• 11:00am: CAD – BOC Gov Macklem Speaks

Friday, May 19

• 11:00am: USD – Fed Chair Powell Speaks

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

WTI crude all features are settling the day and the week at $70.04. The price is down -$0.83 or -1.17%. The low price reached $69.93. The high price reached $71.78.

For the trading week crude oil prices are down $1.28 or -1.79%. That is the 4th down week in a row. From the swing high during the week of April 10 to the settlement today, the price is down around -16.25% (the high price during the week of April 10 reached $83.53).

For the trading year, the price is down around -12.87% (the end-of-the-year level was at $80.26).

Looking at the hourly chart, the price high this week reached $73.89 on Wednesday. On Thursday, the price fell below both the 100 and 200-hour moving averages. In trading today, the corrective high ticked briefly above the 200-hour moving average but quickly reversed. The price low tested the 38.2% retracement of the move up from the exhaustive low from back on May 3. That level came in right around the $70 level.

Stay below the 200-hour moving average keeps sellers more control. Breaking below the 38.2% retracement would open the door for a run toward the 50% midpoint at $68.77.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

• Latest BOE decision reflects belief that inflation risks are still persistent
• There may be more work to do to bring inflation down
• But we are seeing evidence that we are moving in a more favourable direction on the outlook for inflation

He doesn’t really want to give much away but as things stand, markets are voting that they can afford one more rate hike in June to come. After that, it will be quite dependent on the upcoming economic data from the UK in the weeks ahead.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

Headlines:

• Yellen says will be meeting with senior bankers on debt ceiling next week
• Fed’s Bowman: Policy rate will need to remain sufficiently restrictive for some time
• ECB’s Nagel: Latest rate hike won’t be the last
• UK Q1 preliminary GDP +0.1% vs +0.1% q/q expected
• UK March monthly GDP -0.3% vs 0.0% m/m expected
• France April final CPI +5.9% vs +5.9% y/y prelim
• Spain April final CPI +4.1% vs +4.1% y/y prelim

Markets:

• GBP leads, NZD lags on the day
• European equities higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.3%
• US 10-year yields up 2.3 bps to 3.419%
• Gold down 0.6% to $2,004.08
• WTI crude up 0.4% to $71.17
• Bitcoin down 2.4% to $26,351

It was a relatively quiet session as markets continue to trudge along after the US CPI data earlier this week. The prevailing narrative i.e. major central banks likely to pause their respective tightening cycles, is still the key theme but the economic releases this week isn’t adding or subtracting from that in the past few days.

The dollar remains steady with EUR/USD down 0.2% to 1.0890 as sellers try to test waters below the 1.0900 mark. Meanwhile, GBP/USD is up 0.1% to 1.2525 and staying little changed in general as UK Q1 GDP meets estimates.

The greenback is seen firmer slightly against the yen with USD/JPY up 0.2% to 134.80, with higher yields helping. Elsewhere, the antipodeans are lagging with NZD/USD down over 1% to 0.6225 after a plunge back below its 100-day moving average as the downside momentum gathers following softer RBNZ inflation expectations earlier today.

In other markets, equities are holding some optimism towards the end of the week but European indices are more or less closing the week where they started. In the commodities space, gold is trading lower and eyeing a test of the $2,000 mark again with silver down over 1% again after its sharp fall yesterday.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

On the daily chart below for the
Nasdaq, we can see that the price is breaking above the key 12274 resistance, but the question now is whether
or not the buyers will be able to sustain it. The recent economic data has been
giving conflicting signals, but the market seems to be leaning on the
goldilocks scenario where the labour market remains resilient as shown by the
strong NFP report recently and inflation
slowly moderates towards the target as shown by the recent CPI coming in at 4.9% Y/Y. The big bullish
flag is still valid and if the buyers manage to sustain the breakout, the
target would be the 13000 level. A fakeout wouldn’t be good news, but the
sellers have more work to do before getting full control.

Nasdaq
technical analysis

On the 4 hour chart below, we can
see that the price has been ranging just beneath the key resistance for over a
month with just one failed probe at the end of April. This breakout is
significant but unfortunately it is not sustained by a fundamental catalyst as
the big miss in Jobless
Claims yesterday should make the market worry about a deterioration in the
labour market. Today we have the University of Michigan consumer
sentiment report and the market is likely to focus on the inflation expectations
figures as those ticked up considerably recently.

On the 1 hour chart below, we can
see more closely the range and the recent breakout. The buyers may pile in
again if the price pulls back to the broken top of the range. The sellers, on
the other hand, will want to see the price falling below the 12172 swing level
to start positioning for another possible selloff towards the bottom of the
channel.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

The yellow metal is down 0.7% today to around $2,002 at the moment, with the $2,000 mark now coming back into focus. That was where the Friday low held as buyers continue to try and look for further upside momentum – especially to try and get above the 2020 and 2022 highs around $2,070-75.

While a break back under $2,000 would be a blow to buyers, there is still some semblance of support around $1,975-81 for now and that will be a key spot to eye in case sellers try to make a move.

The drop in gold in the past few days comes as we see the dollar make a bit of a stand again with markets perhaps having hoped for a softer US CPI report to push the Fed pivot agenda.

I shared some thoughts here and there is very much a wait and see period in markets at the moment, as we await the next big data to validate or shift the prevailing narrative.

So far this week, gold isn’t really the most interesting chart among precious metals as silver is dealing with another 1.5% drop following yesterday’s sharp decline:

It is an interesting technical move after a bit of a double top pattern just above $26.00 and then the break of short-term support around $24.50-56 yesterday.

The 100-day moving average (red line) is next in line at $23.39 currently.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

That will take the bank rate to 4.75%, although markets are pricing in the peak to be around 4.84% at the moment. One more rate hike is almost a given but a push towards 5.00% is still very much hanging in the balance – depending on inflation and economic developments in the UK.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

• MPC factors this into its policy decisions
• Changes are still working its way through the economy
• Will adjust bank rate as necessary to return inflation to target sustainably
• GDP growth is still weak despite upwards revision

The topics posed by the Q&A so far are a bit of a dud, mainly just trying to question the BOE’s view on high inflation and the economy. These are questions that they should be well prepared for. GBP/USD is losing a bit of steam now, down to 1.2585 from around 1.2605 earlier.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.