416829 May 21, 2025 23:14 Forexlive Latest News Market News
Pres. Trump is saying he is feeling goog on the bill in Congress.
Stocks are reacting positively with the Nasdaq up 0.48% at 19233. The high just reached 19240.53.
The S&P is still marginally lower by 9 points or -0.15% at 5931.50
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.
416828 May 21, 2025 23:00 Forexlive Latest News Market News
The major European indices are closing the day mixed/little changed, erasing earlier declines at the start of the US session. The snapshot of the closing levels shows:
The German DAX closed at a new record level. The DAX’s ascent to record levels is attributed to a combination of strong corporate earnings, positive economic indicators, and investor confidence in Germany’s economic resilience. Sectors such as technology, telecommunications, finance, pharmaceuticals, and energy have been at the forefront of this growth, reflecting a diversified and robust market performance.
The UK FTSE 100 closed at 8786.47, which is within shouting distance of its record high close from February 28 at 8809.75
Spain’s Ibex closed at a new high, going back to 2008
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.
416827 May 21, 2025 22:30 Forexlive Latest News Market News
House Speaker Johnson and House Freedom Caucus Harris will go meet US Pres. Trump this afternoon at 3 PM ET.
Harris earlier today said that they are encouraged by the progress in the last 24 hours, but does not think it can be done today or even this week. He said he is confident he could be done in 10 days.
GOP Hoy commented that there is a long way to go.
Jake Sherman from PunchBowl is saying that Trump is expected to tell the House Finance Committee, that the bill needs to pass today.
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.
416826 May 21, 2025 22:30 Forexlive Latest News Market News
The NASDAQ index has moved into positive territory. It currently trades up 49 points or less 0.27% at 19194.50. That erased a decline of -142.20 at session lows. With the week nearly half over, the index is near unchanged at -0.09%
Top Gainers in the Nasdaq-100
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)
Gain: +5.14%
Closing Price: $172.41
Reason: Alphabet’s stock surged following the unveiling of new AI search features at its developer conference, signaling the company’s continued innovation in artificial intelligence technologies.
AppLovin Corporation (APP)
Gain: +2.31%
Closing Price: $371.43
Reason: The stock’s rise is attributed to positive investor sentiment, possibly driven by recent product updates or favorable market conditions.
ARM Holdings plc (ARM)
Gain: +2.07%
Closing Price: $133.75
Reason: ARM’s gains may be linked to increased demand for its semiconductor technologies, especially in AI and mobile computing sectors.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX)
Gain: +1.43%
Closing Price: $1,209.07
Reason: Netflix’s stock benefited from sustained subscriber growth and anticipation of upcoming content releases.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR)
Gain: +0.54%
Closing Price: $126.27
Reason: The company’s continued expansion into government and commercial contracts likely contributed to investor confidence.
Although positive, the S&P index is still down on the day. It’s current price is down -11.43 points or -0.19% at 5929. For the week, the index is down -0.50%. At session lows today, the index was down -62.69 points.
Finally, the Dow industrial average is sharply lower today with a decline of -306.60 points or -0.72% at 42371. At session lows index was down -448.09 points. For the trading week, the index is down -0.67%
Top Dow Drags Today
1. UnitedHealth Group (UNH)
Price Drop: −$20.42 (−6.4%)
Reason: HSBC downgraded UnitedHealth’s stock and significantly reduced its price target from $490 to $270, citing concerns over regulatory pressures and margin compression.
2. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Price Drop: −$3.37 (−1.7%)
Reason: While specific news was not detailed, the decline contributed to the overall drag on the Dow.
3. Nike Inc. (NKE)
Price Drop: −$1.11 (−1.77%)
4. American Express Co. (AXP)
Price Drop: −$3.07 (−1.03%)
5. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)
Price Drop: −$1.78 (−0.66%)
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.
416825 May 21, 2025 21:39 Forexlive Latest News Market News
Private data released late yesterday:
WTI crude oil was trading up 14-cents to $62.17 earlier. It had been up to $64.19 earlier on a report that Israel was considering attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
This data is bearish.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
416824 May 21, 2025 20:40 Forexlive Latest News Market News
What is happening with the US consumer?
Last week, the market breathed a sigh of relief after Walmart maintained its annual sales forecast. The CFO said February was softer than expected, March was back to normal and April was very strong.
But could the signal have been that higher-end consumers who usually shop at Target trading down?
TGT is down 7% after missing Q1 revenue estimates. The company also cut its full-year sales outlook.
Some of that may be because of the DEI dance the company is doing but I find it hard to believe that consumers actually care. The company blamed most of the decline on the economy.
Sales were down nearly 3% compared to a year ago. The company now expects a low-single digit decline in sales this
fiscal year, compared to a previous forecast of net sales growth of
about 1%.
Also remember that consumers haven’t even been hit by tariff price hikes yet.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
416823 May 21, 2025 20:14 Forexlive Latest News Market News
There are plenty of things going on in the economy, trade and politics at the moment that are worth watching closely but I believe the confluence of them all — and the single most important metric to watch — is the yield on long bonds.
This year we’ve seen three tests of 5% and they were all met by buyers, including early this week after the debt downgrade. But this time the buying momentum faded quickly and yields are up 5.5 bps to 5.02%. If we can close above 5% (especially on the weekly), that’s a good sign that the buyers are exhausted.
In that case, we could very quickly be talking about the 2023 high of 5.17%. That came at a time when Liz Truss was blowing up the UK economy and US inflation was out of control. It was also in a much stronger (at least nominally) economy.
In short, this is a worrisome signal that’s a problem for risk assets and it’s a red flag that the US dollar is down today even as yields rise.
One caveat is that 10-year yields are still within the 2025 range and have some decent breathing room ahead of the January high of 4.81%.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
416822 May 21, 2025 20:00 Forexlive Latest News Market News
The market is pricing 1.64% as the low for ECB rates which is a bit more than 50 bps fully priced in. Getting helow his neutral range would mean at least one more cut on top of that.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
416821 May 21, 2025 19:39 Forexlive Latest News Market News
The cracks in the Canadian housing market are growing and help isn’t coming. The latest CPI number drastically cut the odds of a BOC rate cut in June (odds now just 31%) and Canadian yields are following the global trend higher.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
416819 May 21, 2025 18:45 Forexlive Latest News Market News
US House Speaker Johnson: We came to $40,000 SALT deduction cap agreement
Calling today’s session boring would be an euphemism. The newsflow was extremely limited and we got no data other than the UK CPI report. The UK inflation figures beat expectations by a big margin and triggered a repricing in interest rates expectations with the market now favouring just one rate cut in 2025.
Global long term yields remain elevated as bond traders might not only worry about debts now but also about inflation as central banks continue to downplay inflation risks and focus more on the growth part.
In the final part of the session we also got the news that Republicans have reached an agreement to increase the state and local tax (SALT) deduction to $40,000, which was one of the final hurdles holding up Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”. The House Speaker has also said that they could vote on the bill tonight.
This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at www.forexlive.com.
416818 May 21, 2025 18:30 Forexlive Latest News Market News
US House Speaker Johnson said that they reached an agreement on the $40,000 SALT deduction cap. Hardline conservatives have been resistant to a significant hike to the deduction cap. This should be a big step forward in passing the party’s “big, beautiful bill.”
A congressional correspondent with CNN posted on X that the House Speaker said they will try to vote tonight.
This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at www.forexlive.com.
416817 May 21, 2025 18:14 Forexlive Latest News Market News
I don’t have the same conviction on the ECB reaching the 2% goal sooner than later, unless he’s talking about headline CPI which could be affected by lower energy prices. Services inflation has been running above 4% since 2022.
This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at www.forexlive.com.