Following the S&P 500's dramatic reversal yesterday, falling to a near two-month low, the battle between bulls and bears remained intense in pre-market trading on Friday. Before the market opened, the third-ranking official at the Federal Reserve, New York Fed President Williams... His speech mentioned that he believed there was "room for interest rate cuts in the near future," which boosted the bulls' short-term surge.
As of press time, Nasdaq S&P 500 futures (2512 contract) rose 0.42%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.46%, and Dow Jones futures rose 0.53%. Nvidia, a star tech stock, also saw gains. The pre-market trading continued the battle between bulls and bears, with the decline ranging from over 3% to briefly turning positive.
From a technical perspective, the S&P 500 index rose as much as 1.9% during the day yesterday but ultimately closed down 1.56%, forming a standard "bearish engulfing" pattern . The benchmark US stock index broke below its 50-day moving average on Monday and then below its 100-day moving average on Thursday .
What's even more bizarre is that all of this happened after AI giant Nvidia delivered an earnings report that met market expectations, prompting traders to scramble to find various explanations—including but not limited to "AI bubble," non-farm payroll data hindering the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates, and even macro-level trading tactics like "buy the fact, sell the rumor." Even Jensen Huang couldn't help but marvel at just how outrageous the market's expectations for Nvidia were.
Furthermore, the continued decline in the cryptocurrency market is also impacting market sentiment. As of press time, Bitcoin's price is still down more than 3% today, currently at its lowest point since early April. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's November decline has exceeded 20%, marking its largest monthly drop since June 2022.
HSBC's chief multi-asset strategist, Max Ketterner, said that another round of Bitcoin selling is further fueling concerns about continued retail investor withdrawals – the continued plunge in Bitcoin could force retail investors to liquidate other assets, such as stocks, to meet margin requirements.
Other market news
[Huang Renxun reportedly complained internally: Current market expectations are ridiculously high]
According to reports, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang complained at an all-hands internal meeting on Thursday that "market expectations are ridiculously high right now," and that no matter what kind of results are delivered, it will be difficult to please them. He also expressed delight at the latest results, emphasizing that "the market has not fully realized (Nvidia's) incredible quarterly performance."
Catherine Wood makes her first Nvidia purchase since August.
According to daily trading data released by Ark Capital, amid yesterday's significant volatility in Nvidia's stock price, Ark Innovation Fund purchased 93,000 shares of Nvidia stock. This marks the fund's first active increase in its Nvidia holdings since early August. Prior to Thursday's purchase, Ark Capital held over 1.1 million Nvidia shares at the end of the third quarter.
As a well-known "market contrarian," Catherine Wood's fund also increased its holdings in several cryptocurrency-related stocks this week. As of Thursday's close, the ARKK Innovation Fund has fallen more than 20% from its October high.
European arms manufacturers fall to their lowest level since September.
European defense stocks fell to their lowest level since early September after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his willingness to work towards the latest US-proposed ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine. German company Renkr Group fell more than 9% intraday, nearing its sixth consecutive day of decline. Other well-known defense companies such as Rheinmetall and Saab also saw losses. The stock also fell.
Ubisoft's half-year report beat guidance; Tencent investment helps reduce debt.
French games Ubisoft released its delayed half-year financial report on Friday, showing bookings of €490 million for the previous fiscal quarter, a 39% year-on-year increase, exceeding the company's guidance of €450 million. The company stated that a €1 billion investment from Tencent will reduce its debt. As of the end of September, Ubisoft's net debt was €1.15 billion, of which €210 million is due in December.
Other events/data to watch tonight
November 21
21:30 Federal Reserve Governor Barr delivers a speech
21:45 Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Jefferson delivers a speech
22:00 Dallas Fed President Logan participates in a panel discussion, and Boston Fed President Collins delivers a speech.
22:45 S&P US PMI data
23:00 US November University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Final Reading, US November One-Year Inflation Expectations Final Reading
November 22
04:30 CFTC releases weekly Commitment of Traders report
(Article source: CLS)
