US stock index futures are rallying after last Thursday’s sell-off, supported by a partial recovery in sentiment despite Fed rate-cut expectations for December.
US stock index futures rebound and gold tests minor key support
Key takeaways
- US stock index futures are rebounding after last Thursday’s sell-off, supported by a partial recovery in sentiment even as traders cut December Fed rate-cut expectations to 44%.
- Asia-Pacific markets are mixed, with Japan, China, and Hong Kong underperforming due to renewed diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, keeping major regional indices under pressure.
- The US dollar is stabilising while gold stays soft, as USD strength returns after two weeks of losses and XAU/USD drifts toward a key minor technical support following last week’s sharp reversal.
In today’s Asia session, the US stock index futures continued to recover from last Thursday’s 13 November sell-off induced by a reduction in Fed rate cut bets for the December FOMC meeting, to a chance of only 44% from around 60% a week ago, due to the uncertainty of the release of the official US jobs report and inflation data for October as the US government ended its historical shut down of 43 days.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures staged intraday rallies of 0.3% and 0.5% at the time of writing, respectively, after retesting their 50-day moving averages on last Friday, 14 November, ahead of AI juggernaut, NVIDIA’s third quarter earnings release on Wednesday, 19 November, after the close of the US session.
In contrast, Asia-Pacific markets are trading mixed today. Japan, China, and Hong Kong benchmark indices lagged, weighed down by a diplomatic flare-up between Tokyo and Beijing following remarks by Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi in parliament regarding Taiwan.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.1% to 50,320, unable to break above its 20-day moving average since last Friday, which is acting as a near-term resistance at around 50,730. China’s CSI 300 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index recorded intraday losses of 0.6% and 0.9% respectively.
In the FX market, the US dollar rebounded from the prior two weeks of consecutive losses, driven by growing uncertainties about a third Fed rate cut in December, which led to weakness in the Swiss franc (-0.2%) and the Japanese yen (-0.1%).
Gold (XAU/USD) remains sluggish, slipping another 0.3% to an intraday low of US$4,075 after last Friday’s 2.1% bearish reversal. The metal is now drifting back toward a key near-term support area at US$4,062–4,036, which aligns closely with its 20-day moving average.
Our YouTube video above contains the latest intraday technical analysis on the US Wall Street 30, US Nas 100, US SPX 500, Hong Kong 33, Japan 225, Germany 30, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, Gold (XAU/USD), and West Texas Oil.
