Housing Permits Rise, Nasdaq Over 4,000

Overnight U.S. markets posted record highs as the Nasdaq Composite is over 4,000 for the first time in 13 years. Housing permits came in better than expected which sparked a rally in home builders.

Overall we received good economic data which cheered sentiment sending stocks higher. Consumer confidence came in at 70.4. This was below the expected 72.9 and below October’s 71.2. The recent Government shutdown played a role here. In other data, building permits came in a t a five year high last month. The Case Shiller index climbed over 13 percent from a year ago. Building permits rose 6.2 percent to 1.034 million in October.

STOCKS
A day after clearing 4,000 for the first time in over 13 years, the Nasdaq Composite finally closed at 4,017.75. The DJIA also extended record gains with another record close. The blue chip index closed at 16,072.80. We had hit an intraday record of 16,120.25. The S&P 500 also closed up a fraction to 1,802.75. We saw many of the gains for the Dow and S&P lost in the final minutes as traders saw a big ticket sell order come through.

In trading this morning, in Asia, the Shanghai Composite traded within 13 points of a new one month. The Chinese benchmark is still up nearly 0.7 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei continued to extend losses after its three day winning streak ended yesterday. The index is also tracking the yen as it is still moving away from it six month high against the Dollar. In Sydney, the ASX 200 is 16 points lower as soft commodity prices are hurting mining companies. In South Korea, December’s manufacturing outlook fell from a two year high. This dragged the Kospi lower by 0.2 percent to 2021.30.

CURRENCIES
USD/JPY (101.530) took out support at 101.10 the recovered to test resistance at the current level. If we can hold here we can move back towards 101.70/90. Failure can see 101 then 100.88.

EUR/JPY (138.059) was trading in a narrow range but has broken through 137.79. We are testing a key resistance level at 138.35. A break there is bullish for 136.90. EUR/USD (1.3593) defended 1.3520 and bounced higher. We keep our bullish newly founded attitude to test 1.3580. We need to break this to rally to 1.36. GBP/USD

COMMODITIES
WTI Brent (110.93) is trying to break 112. If this fails we could dip to 109 and the 108.50. A break of 112 is bullish and we will target 116. WTI Crude (93.46) has fallen as U.S. inventories came in strong. We seem to be range bound from 93.10 to 95.90 for now. We have strong support at 92.

Gold (1245.20) has fallen a bit and we are back below the crucial 1250 level. Looks like the charts are bearish for 1225. I break below 1225 targets 1200 and lower.

TODAY’S OUTLOOK
Today should be a relatively quiet day as U.S. markets will close tomorrow for the Thanksgiving Holiday. As far as data is concerned we will get an important release from the States as weekly jobless number will be available later in the day.