DOW JONES PULLS BACK AFTER WEAK AMAZON AND APPLE EARNINGS

Global stocks retreated on Friday as the market reacted to the relatively weak results by Amazon and Apple, two of the biggest companies in the world. Apple reported that its revenue was off by about $6 billion because of the ongoing chip shortage. At the same time, Amazon blamed the ongoing supply shortages for its weak performance. It also blamed its higher wages and sign up bonuses for its performance The two companies made a profit of $20 billion and $3.2 billion respectively. These results were the opposite of how other companies like Alphabet and Netflix, which reported strong growth. In Europe, the DAX, FTSE 100, and CAC 40 declined by more than 0.50%. In the US, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures declined by more than 0.40%.

The euro declined as focus remained on the latest European Central Bank (ECB) decision. The bank decided to leave rates unchanged. It will also continue with its quantitative easing (QE) program at a relatively slower pace. The currency also declined after the relatively strong EU inflation data. According to Eurostat, the Eurozone CPI rose from 3.4% in September to 4.1% in October. This was the highest number since 2006. Excluding energy and food, prices jumped from 1.9% to 2.1%. In France, the headline CPI rose by 2.1% while in Italy, it rose by more than 5%.

The British pound declined slightly after the relatively strong mortgage data in the UK. The numbers showed that mortgage lending rebounded from 4.4 billion pounds in August to more than 9.52 billion in September. This increase was better than the median estimate of 6.0 billion. This happened even as the number of mortgage approvals declined from 74.21k to more than 72.65k. Consumer credit also declined sharply in September. These numbers came two days after Rishi Sunak unveiled his autumn budget.

EURUSD

The EURUSD pair erased some of the gains made on Thursday. This happened as the pair’s price declined from a high of 1.1690 to the current level of 1.1650. On the four-hour chart, the pair moved slightly below the upper side of the Bollinger Bands. It also moved below the key resistance level at 1.1670. The histogram and MACD have moved above the neutral level. Therefore, the pair will likely resume the bullish trend in the American session.

USDCHF

The spectacular decline of the USDCHF pair continued on Friday as investors reacted to the weak US GDP data. The pair declined to 0.9113, which was the lowest level since August. On the four-hour chart, the pair moved to the lower side of the Bollinger Bands. It also moved below the short and longer-term moving averages. The RSI and MACD have also continued their bearish trend. Therefore, the pair will likely keep falling, with the next key support at 0.9050.

ETHUSD

The ETHUSD pair held steady as demand for cryptocurrencies rose. The pair rose to 4352, which was slightly below the all-time high on record. The pair is above the short and long-term moving averages. It is also slightly below the upper side of the ascending channel while the MACD is above the neutral level. The pair will likely keep rising in the near term.