As Asian Paciifc markets kicked off the new trading week ahead of a US open in coming hours, Gold again saw fierce bidding up of prices, with new spot highs of 1944USD being reached. Silver also continued its outsizes surge, with prices leaping from a 22-handle to north of $24USD per ounce. Much has been reported on recent violent moves in precious metals as the USD takes a battering in the face of continued currency debasement courtesy of continued Fed printing, as demanded by all-important COVID rescue packages. It seems that the USD, for now, is regarded as the ‘least dirty shirt’, with the EUR/USD now firmly in an uptrend courtesy of the newly minted $1.2Trillion coronavirus recovery deal which finally saw the EU begin to form the basis of a new paradigm whereby the common bloc now seemingly has a mandate to tax and spend in cooperation.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.8% to its lowest in about a year and a half. Shares fluctuated in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, while U.S. and European futures climbed after last week’s declines. A 10% surge in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. led shares in Taipei toward a record high. Silver rose as investor appetite for precious metals continued. Treasuries edged higher as Chinese markets continue to weaken in the face of increased concern relative to severe flooding affecting much of the primary production and trade regions.
Earnings season continues in earnest this week, as giants including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (aka: Google. GOOGL), Chevron (CVX), Caterpillar (CAT) and other corporate juggernauts give markets some indication of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and views into the trading year ahead. Read more…
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CampusReform.org Editor-in-Chief Cabot Phillips joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman breaks down how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted higher education.