The morning trading of US stock index futures saw a slight increase, maintaining the previous day's bullish investor sentiment. The situation surrounding the unexpected decision of the Bank of Japan gradually eased, which helped to stabilize the bond market. After yesterday's gains in the regular session, S&P 500 futures increased 0.6%, giving investors who were gearing up to close one of the worst years in more than a decade some relief.
However, yesterday's reports from FedEx and Nike served as a reminder to traders that the longest losing streak is about to come to an end. In recent weeks, the inflation factor, central banks, and the slowdown in global economic growth have all had an impact on sentiment. Following the release of earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations, Nike Inc. shares increased 13% in premarket trading. After the announcement of results exceeding expectations, FedEx securities, which are regarded as a benchmark for economic prospects, increased by 4.2%. Following Elon Musk's announcement that he would resign as the social network's CEO as soon as a replacement is named, Tesla saw a growth of more than 2%.
As mentioned above, it became clear that even the most conservative central bank would eventually join its peers and start raising interest rates after Japan's shocking decision to raise the upper limit on the yield of its 10-year bonds. As the benchmark yield on 10-year bonds approached a new upper limit and the yield on two-year Japanese bonds rose above zero for the first time since 2015, the Bank of Japan was forced to step in and intervene in the bond-purchasing operation. US Treasury bond yields increased this week by 20 basis points before stabilizing and remaining unchanged.
The decisions made by the Bank of Japan will continue to have an impact on the foreign exchange market, as I noted in my most recent review. As domestic yields rise, Japanese traders will undoubtedly use their excess dollars and other currencies to purchase yen and Japanese government bonds. As a result, the US dollar will lose even more ground to other global currencies like the yen.
On the raw materials market, oil prices have risen for a third day as concerns about the economic downturn have grown in response to a report showing a decline in stocks in the United States and expectations of supply issues. In response to the cancellation of Covid Zero in China, iron ore and copper prices increased for a second day.
According to the S&P 500's technical picture, the index might keep expanding. The main objective for today will be to safeguard $3,830. We can anticipate a more assured upward jerk while trading is conducted above this range, which will lay the groundwork for the trading instrument to strengthen to $3,858 with the potential to reach $3,891. The level of $3,923 is a little higher and will be challenging to surpass. Buyers simply have to declare themselves around $3,830 in the event of a downward movement because only $3,802 is below that level, after which the index will come under more pressure. The trading instrument will quickly reach $3,773 on a breakdown, with the $3,735 region serving as the farthest target.