As of Friday, the Dow Jones (US30) decreased by 0.77% (for the week +1.65%). The S&P500 Index (US500) was down 1.11% (for the week +2.21%). The Nasdaq Technology Index (US100) fell by 1.36% (for the week +2.55%). The major Wall Street indices fell sharply in afternoon trading, led by a technological stock sell-off. Nevertheless, all 3 major indices remained positive at the end of the week.

The US trade deficit widened to $102.9 bln in November from $98.3 bln in October, more than expectations of $101.2 bln. This is negative for Q4 GDP and bearish for stocks.

Tesla (TSLA) fell more than 3% amid reports that car rental company Hertz is so desperate to get rid of its inventory of Tesla vehicles that it is aggressively sending out cheap buyback options to customers. Broadcom (AVGO) is down more than 2% on signs of insider selling after the CFO sold $2.89 million shares last Friday.

Equity markets in Europe were mostly down on Friday. Germany’s DAX (DE40) rose by 0.68% (for the week -1.43%), France’s CAC 40 (FR40) closed 1.00% higher (for the week +0.91%), Spain’s IBEX 35 (ES35) gained 0.50% (for the week +0.60%), and the UK’s FTSE 100 (UK100) closed up 0.16% (for the week -0.60%) on Friday.

WTI crude oil prices rose 1.4% to $70.6/bbl on Friday amid another decline in US crude inventories. Increasingly pessimistic economic signals from China supported bets that fuel demand from the world’s main oil importer will slow. In turn, rising supply from Canada, the US, and Brazil may offset prolonged production cuts by OPEC+ members. Nevertheless, uncertainty remains as US President-elect Trump may support domestic production and tighten sanctions on energy exports from Iran.

The US natural gas prices rose to $3.36/MMBtu after the EIA reported a smaller-than-expected 93 billion cubic feet decline in storage inventories for the week ended Dec. 20, which was below forecasts for a 99 bcf decline, bringing inventories to 3,529 bcf.

Asian markets were mostly up last week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (JP225) rose by 3.18%, China’s FTSE China A50 (CHA50) gained 2.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (HK50) added 2.45%, and Australia’s ASX 200 (AU200) was negative 0.57% for the week.

On Friday, Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda reiterated the need to monitor economic risks but refrained from giving clear guidance on future rate hikes. As for the data, Japan’s retail sales rose the most in three months in November, while industrial production fell less than expected.

The Australian dollar rose to around $0.62 but remained near two-year lows, reflecting its continued troubles amid subdued holiday trade. Earlier in December, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) adopted a dovish tone, introducing an explicit easing bias. Weaker-than-expected trends in consumer spending, wage growth, and housing-related inflation drove the shift. As a result, markets have come to view the probability of a rate cut as early as February as 50/50.