US stocks extend gains to new all-time highs as US-China trade talks progress. The US dollar weakens while Gold surges to a fresh record high.
Risk-on accelerates ahead of FOMC, US dollar extends losses, Gold rallied to a new record high
On Monday, 15 September, the US stock market opened on a strong risk-on tone, extending last week’s momentum. The mega-cap heavy S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 surged to fresh all-time highs, advancing 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and small-cap Russell 2000 lagged, posting more modest gains of 0.1% and 0.3%.
Yesterday’s bullish tone in the US stock indices has also been reinforced by an air of optimism arising from the fourth round of US-China trade talks held in Spain, which will last until Wednesday, 17 September.
US Treasury Secretary Bessent, the leading official for the US delegation, said that a framework to keep ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok app running in the US had been reached. Also, President Donald Trump said he would speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday, 19 September, their first direct engagement since June.
AI juggernaut, Nvidia’s share price underperformed on Monday, where it closed almost unchanged, after China ruled that Nvidia violated anti-monopoly laws, but it did not derail the bulls in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, as the share price of Alphabet, another mega-cap, surged by 4.5% to surpass US$3 trillion in market value, joining Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple, the only other publicly traded stocks above that level.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied by 0.5% to hit a fresh all-time high, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index continued to extend its gains by 0.15% as it approaches a 4-year high.
The US dollar stayed under pressure as markets anticipate dovish policy guidance from the Federal Reserve ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC meeting and the release of its updated economic dot plot projections.
The US Dollar Index shed -0.3% yesterday, and in today’s Asia session, it extended its losses by -0.2% to an intraday level of 97.18 at the time of writing, breaking below the major support of 97.20, led by intraday gains seen in the JPY (0.3%) and GBP (0.2%) against the greenback.
The ongoing weakness in the US dollar has also triggered another round of bullish moves in Gold (XAU/USD), as it powered up by 1% yesterday to hit another fresh all-time closing high of US$3,679. In today’s Asia, the precious yellow metal held steady with a modest intraday gain of 0.1% at the time of writing.
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