Asia Morning July 9

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks rebounded despite potential consequences of spiking coronavirus cases across the country. The Nasdaq 100 Index jumped 142 points (+1.36%) to a fresh record close of 10666. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 177 points (+0.68%) to 26067, and the S&P 500 gained 24 points (+0.78%) to 3169.

Nasdaq 100 Index: Daily Chart

Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView

Market sentiment was lifted by comments by St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard that U.S. jobless rate would likely decline to 7% by the year-end.

Consumer Durables & Apparel (+1.9%), Technology Hardware & Equipment (+1.85%) and Retailing (+1.74%) sectors performed the best. Amazon.com (AMZN +2.70% to $3,081.11), Apple (AAPL +2.33% to $381.37), and Netflix (NFLX +1.95% to $9.62) all close at record levels. Kohl's (KSS +9.46%) and Twitter (TWTR +7.34%) also gained big.  

On the technical side, about 42.5% (45.9% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average, and 43.0% (56.7% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

Due later today are reports on Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended July 4 (a decline to 1.375 million expected) and Wholesale Inventories for May (final reading of -1.2% on month expected).

European stocks remained under pressure. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.67%. Germany's DAX 30 dropped 0.97%, France's CAC 40 lost 1.24%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.55%.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 0.664% from 0.652% Tuesday.

Spot gold price advanced $13.00 (+0.8%) to $1,808 an ounce, the highest close since September 2011 and posting a five-session rally. 

U.S. WTI crude oil futures (August) gained 0.7% to $40.90 a barrel. Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration reported a build of 5.7 million barrels in crude-oil stockpiles last week, in contrast to expectations of a reduction of 3.1 million barrels.

On the forex front, the U.S. dollar weakened against its major peers, with the ICE Dollar Index dropping 0.5% on day to 96.48.

EUR/USD advanced 0.6% to 1.1336. European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said "the outlook is a little bit brighter than it was only two months ago" and there might be more optimism regarding the recovery in the third and fourth quarter.

GBP/USD rose 0.6% to 1.2613, posting a three-day rally.

USD/JPY fell 0.2% to 107.29. This morning, official data showed that Japan's core machine orders grew 1.7% on month in May (-5.0% expected).