Your Weekly Trading Review by UFX.com – Sunday, November 26th, 2017
Some of this past week’s leading economic news and events affected the financial markets:
The EUR/USD and GBP/USD increased by +0.69% and +0.21%, respectively. Gold fell by -0.39%, while Crude Oil saw an increase in value of +1.60%.
The 3 major US indices all saw positive ends to the week, pleasing investors across multiple markets. The Dow went up by +0.14%, S&P had an increase of +0.21%, and NASDAQ rose slightly by +0.32%.
Black Friday Sales Hit New Record
Amazon came out the winner for Black Friday, as record sales caused the company’s stock price to climb by 2&. GBH Insights reported that almost 50% of purchases for the weekend were from the dominant online retailer, and total sales for the weekend are estimated at $5 billion. Adobe Digital Insights predicts that Cyber Monday could exceed this amount, with potential sales as high as $6 billion.
Orders placed by smartphones accounted for more than a third of sales and more than half of website visits. Adobe estimates that phones and tablets brought in $2 billion in revenue during the Black Friday event.
Putin Leads the Oil Negotiations
Russian oil suppliers have been negatively affected by this year’s cuts and are eager to start increasing their output numbers. After headlining Russia’s pact with OPEC (the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries) to slow down supplies 1 year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the position as the group’s most influential member. Putin’s influence will be tested on November 30th, when OPEC’s 14 members, including Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, and Venezuela, will host several independent producers – such as Russia and Mexico – in Vienna to deliberate whether or not to extend the cuts after March 2018.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih wants to increase the oil cut extension until the end of 2018, but Putin and his team are hesitant to agree to this plan.
That’s our summary of the financial headlines from the past week. Good luck with this week’s trading and stay tuned for the next review from UFX.