It was not expected to happen today, but a Brexit deal got hammered out.  PM Boris Johnson got the job done and now he needs to survive the Parliamentary arithmetic.  Johnson needs 320 votes to get his deal through the House of Commons.  Johnson will have just under 259 votes in the bag as Conservatives are expected to vote for him, that number is however lower since Johnson expelled a few in September.  Johnson’s math has him needing 61 votes from a possible 85 and that will be a tall task as he is still seeing resistance from Northern Ireland’s DUP, the party that holds what many consider 10 critical votes.  The Brexit news triggered a risk-on rally across all the asset classes, helping S&P 500 futures recapture the 3,000 level.  If … [Read More...]

Gold traded lower on Tuesday as market participants awaited clarity on U.S.-China trade talks and as earnings season starts on a positive note. Gold for December delivery on Comex GCZ19, -0.89% was off $6.50, or 0.4%, at $1,491.10 an ounce, while December silver SIZ19, -1.52% gave up 18.5 cents, or 1%, to trade at $17.525 an ounce. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, +1.46% fell 2.9 basis points to 1.701%. Lower yields on government debt can be a positive for assets like gold that offer no yield. But a positive start to stocks as earnings season begins in earnest appeared to rob gold of some haven appeal, while investors also attempted to pin down the state of U.S.-China trade … [Read More...]

The US and China were able to make a partial deal, setting up hopes for a prolonged trade truce. The positive trade update took US stocks are higher and is putting the pressure on safe-havens.  The deal is tentative and subject to change as President Trump gets ready to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He later today.   Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could finalize this partial deal later today. US equities could resume the march toward uncharted territory if we see continued a de-escalation in all tariffs over the coming weeks.  Optimism is likely to remain in place and we could start to see the outflows from safe-havens help trigger a major emerging market rally.  The bottom could be in place for … [Read More...]