Weekly Market Recap – October 18th, 2019

In the Markets

The major equity indices collectively fell close to flat on the week, as the S&P 500 continues to flirt with its high, just 1% shy of its high reached earlier in the year. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% on the week, while the NASDAQ gained 0.4% and the Dow Jones lost 0.2%. The week provided a wide variety of market news in an eventful time for the global economy. First, third quarter earnings reports began being released, with better than expected results coming from the financial and transportation sectors. While this conflicted with some of the economic data released this week, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowering its projected global growth for 2019 from 3.5% to 3%, investor sentiment remained optimistic, bolstered by increased expectations of another Fed interest rate cut at their October meeting.

Internationally, roadblocks continued to surface for attempts at global cooperation and negotiation. While the China-U.S. trade negotiations are still riding the positive developments regarding the first phase of the deal, U.S. legislative support for pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong could become a wrench in the system, as China threated to retaliate against such support. In Europe, an agreement reached between the EU and UK regarding Brexit was temporarily thwarted by Parliament’s narrow vote on Saturday. In the first formal Saturday gathering of British lawmakers in 37 years, opponents of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan attempted to bar Britain from leaving the EU without Parliament’s approval.

Despite the large percentage of the global oil supply tied up between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who’s tensions in the region remain high, crude oil prices dropped on the week. WTI futures fell 2.68% and Brent crude lost 1.8%. Gasoline lost 0.96% and heating oil futures dropped 0.54%. Natural gas finally experienced a reprieve from recent losses, gaining 4.79% on the week.

Precious metals saw limited movement this week, with the exception of palladium, which climbed 3.22% on the week. Gold gained 0.36%, silver progressed a meager 0.19%, while platinum lost half a percentage point. Copper also finished nearly flat, moving up just 0.3%.

Soybeans also completed a week of low volatility, moving down just 0.05%. Corn lost 1.7%, while wheat increased 4.15%. Coffee gained 2.13%, while sugar lost 0.73% and milk dropped slightly by 0.05%. Lean hogs gained 7.99% through Friday.

World Cup Trading Championships

Durai Ramasamy’s 225.5% net return was good enough to again place him at the top of the WCTC leaderboard. Durai was followed by Sadanand Kalasabail’s second-place 164.5% net return. Fabien Fischer held on to third place at a net return of 125.4%, followed closely by the 122.4% net return of Ryan Alderson. The top five was rounded out by Takumaru Sakakibara’s 102.2% net return.

Wayne Wan continued to reign as the leader of the Global Cup, boasting a net return of 193.8%. Michael Cook finished in second place with a net return of 107.6%, followed by Stefan Seibert’s 98.6% net return. Maxim Schulz posted a fourth-place 70.2% net return and Jan Smolen rounded out the top five with a 58.7% net return.

Trading futures and forex involves significant risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. World Cup Championship (WCC ) accounts do not necessarily represent all the trading accounts controlled by a given competitor. WCC competitors may control accounts that produce results substantially different than the results achieved in their WCC accounts. WCC entrants may trade more than one account in the competition.