U.S. Markets Close Near Session Highs

U.S. Markets finished near session highs as the S&P 500 saw its seventh consecutive day of gains. Asian markets could not follow through this morning and ended quite mixed on fears of “tapering” by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on September 18.

After the speech delivered by Barack Obama on Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov from Russia. They will discuss the next steps with Syria and its chemical weapons. Apart from Syria, investor nerves lie with the FOMC meeting next week. Will they announce some pairing back of their massive bond buying program?

STOCKS
The Australian S&P/ASX is now above 5,246 points as it is trading near its highest level since June 2008. Investors shrugged off soft jobs data which saw the index rally. The Nikkei lost 0.3 percent today on disappointing economic data and the USD/JPY fell below $100. The Nikkei came off its previous session’s seven week high of 14,561. The Shanghai Composite also lost 0.3 percent today and he Kospi hit a fresh three and a half month high.

The Dow Jones jumped 135.54 points to close at 15,326.60. This is now a three day winning streak. The S&P 500 rose 5 points to close at 1,689.13. The NASDAQ Composite was dragged down by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) which lost over 5 percent on the day after announcing two new phones. The NASDAQ finished at 3,725.01, down 4 points.

European markets were up narrowly on Wednesday. This comes after Tuesday’s pause.

CURRENCIES
The AUD/USD (0.9254) fell after softer than expected payroll report and the unemployment rate climbed in Australia. However, while above 0.9000 we remain bullish for 0.9400. See the below chart.

The EUR/USD (1.3319) moved higher as investors are gaining confidence in the European economy. The Euro is tracking the DAX higher which is at 8495.73. We look to stay in a sideways range from 1.3210 to 1.3400 in the short term. The GBP/USD (1.58221) also moved higher, breaking above a key level yesterday. The British unemployment number declined to 7.7 percent. We see key resistance now at 1.6000 which could hold bringing declines.

COMMODITIES
In commodity universe, we are seeing most major commodities trading near support levels. A rise can be in the cards in the near future.

Copper (3.256) is in an uptrend. We have support at 3.25 which is expected to hold to send the metal towards 3.400. Gold (1359.40) is falling on fears the FOMC will not reduce its asset purchase program at its September meeting. We see some support at this level and if it holds a recovery towards 1375 cannot be ruled out.

WTI Crude (107.68) is up slightly as we see support near 107.00. If that level holds we can target 112.00.

TODAY’S OUTLOOK
Investors are watching to see if the FED will taper back its asset purchasing program at the FOMC meeting on September 18. Today, the U.S. will release jobless claims, import and export sales, the Treasury budget and its balance sheet.