US stock market is trying to keep growing

The euro is getting cheaper today for the third day in a row after the German High Court ordered the ECB to report for the purchase of bonds under the TLTRO program within 3 months. In the event of a negative development, the court may exclude the Bundesbank from ECB measures designed to weaken the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the European economy. The probability of this is still low, but the fact of going to court indicates disagreements in the distribution of economic aid among the EU countries. Another factor in the euro’s fall was the publication of the Markit Manufacturing PMI in the EU for April, which turned out to be worse than forecasts. GBPUSD again failed to overcome the psychological level of 1.26 and dropped slightly. The continuing uncertainty about the conditions of Brexit in trade between Britain and the EU contributed to the weakening of the pound. Note that by the end of June, the parties must agree on extension of the transitional period until December 31 this year. Without a mutual trade agreement, Britain will have to trade with the European Union under the rules of the World Trade Organization. They are much less profitable, which can significantly weaken the pound and the entire British economy.

On Tuesday, US stocks rose for the second day in a row due to a slight easing of US-Chinese discord over foreign trade. Additional trade sanctions and duties will be discussed, it will take a lot of time. In addition, the Fed announced that the US economy will begin to recover in the 2nd half of 2020. The leading shares of companies from the S&P 500 list belong to the following sectors: Healthcare, Technology and Basic Materials. The coronavirus pandemic in the United States continues. Quotes of the pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer Inc rose by 2.4% and the UnitedHealth Group – by 1.9%. Shares of Portola Pharmaceuticals soared 130% and Ritter Pharmaceuticals – 88%. At the same time, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings lost 22.6%. This morning, European stock indices grew slightly amid rising futures for US indices. Investors have so far ignored a record drop in the German factory orders indicator for March and the poor profit forecast of the BMW car manufacturer (-2.7%). Labor market data for April from independent agency ADP will be released in the USA today.

Oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday. US crude oil has increased almost twofold in a week thanks to the announcement by a number of countries on the mitigation of quarantine. In addition, OPEC + reduced production by 10 million barrels per day since May 1. In the United States, many companies stopped or limited the development of shale wells at the Permian Basin. Today, the attention of market participants is drawn to data on changes in official US oil reserves for the week, which will be released later this evening. The independent American Petroleum Institute expects them to grow by 8.4 million barrels and also the gasoline inventories to decrease by 2.4 million barrels. Note that the demand for sugar rose with the increase in oil prices. Brazil, the United States and other countries may begin to process some of their sugar cane into biofuels.

Gold has been traded for a few weeks in a narrow range near the psychological level of $ 1,700 per ounce. Investors are uncertain about when the coronavirus pandemic will end and the world economy will recover. The escalation of the US-China trade war is also a significant global risk and supports gold quotes. Palladium is getting cheaper amid a sharp decline in new car sales worldwide due to quarantine. The metal is used in gasoline engine catalysts.