The flat-line was held during U.S. Friday trade as the markets absorbed a better outlook on Manufacturing surveys than may have been expected, higher consumer confidence numbers than had been seen for a while. “The European bank holiday did impede order flows at the get-go, but momentum was squashed by the ISM report at 10:00 EDT that although not as bad as expected did not help stock buying” TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Team said. “The banking stress test results that are now coming on the 7th of May have weighed on sentiment. It looks as though unless a massive spin is forthcoming in their delivery, that these results really could set the tone for the next quarter’s price action”.
“If the market accepts the results the end of the bear market may be accepted as being very probable. However, the wrong delivery, message, or understanding by the market of these results may easily through U.S. markets straight back into the bear trap.” The Team said.
Equity markets were trading around their opening prices, whilst oil and gold both played around with support at their 20 day SMA price points. The dollar index held steady, for the second day, awaiting the stock market call to signal that things are moving. “Overall, it is a very disjoined period of trade to end the week. Thankfully this month did not bring the Non-farm Payroll release, as the first Friday fell on the 1st of the month. That sets up more anticipation to build next week.” The Team said.