5 Dec 2022

Last Friday, the three major U.S. stock indexes opened lower collectively. The U.S. non-agricultural data for November far exceeded expectations. As of the close, the Dow rose 0.1%, the Nasdaq fell 0.18%, and the S&P fell 0.12%. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 0.428% to close at 3.49%, a difference of -79 basis points compared to the yield on the two-year Treasury bond. The panic index VIX fell 3.93%. Brent crude oil closed down 1.34%. Spot gold closed down 0.29% at $1,797.75 an ounce, the first time since August 15 that it has topped $1,800 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index remained high, closing at 104.5.

The seasonally adjusted non-agricultural employment population in the United States in November was 263,000, much higher than the consensus estimate of 200,000, ending a three-month downward trend, and wage growth accelerated from the previous month, suggesting that the job market is still very strong. The Fed also needs to continue to curb inflation. After the release of the US non-agricultural data, gold fell by more than 15 US dollars in the short term, the US dollar index rose by more than 100 points, and non-US currencies generally fell. The increase in job creation came despite signs of increased layoffs across the economy. In addition, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday that the unemployment rate remained at 3.7% for the third consecutive month. Wage growth picked up, averaging 5.1% over the past 12 months, below inflation but well above what the Fed would like to see as it tries to cool the economy.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the outstanding balance of U.S. federal government debt has reached $31.41 trillion. It is reported that the US national debt will exceed US$30 trillion in February 2022 and US$31 trillion in October. The current US debt ceiling is 31.4 trillion US dollars, and the existing US national debt has exceeded the ceiling, and there has been a debt default.

OPEC+ is likely to maintain its current oil production target when it meets on Sunday, two OPEC+ sources said on Friday, but some said further cuts were not entirely out of the question given concerns about economic growth and demand. The ECB is prepared to maintain all existing temporary swap and repo lines with non-euro area central banks until 15 January 2024. The EU agreed to set a price cap of $60 a barrel for Russian oil exports. The monthly PPI rate in the euro zone recorded -2.9% in October, ending the growth trend since May 2020. Bridgewater has wiped out most of its 2022 gains after a two-month rout.

Apple fell 0.34%, and is stepping up the development of AR/VR headsets. It is reported that the company has internally changed the name of the operating system from "realityOS" to "xrOS"; 10,000 units is lowered to 76 million units, a 20% drop from 2021.

Google fell 0.17%, and will appeal the Android antitrust fine of more than 4 billion euros.

Amazon fell 1.08%, according to Amazon CEO: Cut costs for a month and found that the US economy was worse than expected.

Tesla rose 1.08% and delivered the first batch of electric semi-trailer trucks Semi to Pepsi, but did not announce the pricing or latest production plan of the truck; Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory will further optimize production efficiency and focus on supplying the China market.

Meta rose 2.53% on news that Meta is trying to reach a settlement with the EU antitrust investigation, but no progress has been made so far.

Sources from: Investing.com; Reuters.com

Louis Yap

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