Here are today's directional views from the global research desks of Trading Central! These are starting points for your own research to identify opportunities that make sense for you.  

    
Market Wrap: Stocks, Bonds, Commodities

On Thursday, U.S. stocks rallied pushing both the S&P 500 (+41 points or 0.99% to 4,221) and the Nasdaq 100 (+187 points or 1.31% to 14,441) to their highest closes since August 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153 points (+0.47%) to 33,061. 

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield eased further to 4.4 basis points to 3.599%.

Regarding U.S. economic data. the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 46.9 in May (vs 48.0 expected).

The ADP jobs report showed that the economy added 278,000 private jobs in May (vs +200,000 expected). The latest number of initial jobless claims rose to 232,000 (vs 234,000 expected).

The closely-watched U.S. official jobs report for May will be released later today. It is expected that the economy added 180,000 non-farm payrolls, with the jobless rate ticking up to 3.5%.

Semiconductors (+2.26%), automobiles (+1.74%), and capital goods (+1.43%) stock sectors gained the most on Thursday.

Nvidia (NVDA) rebounded 5.12%, Tesla (TSLA) rallied a further 1.76%, and Netflix (NFLX) was up 2.00%.

Meta Platforms (META) rose 2.98%. CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the company's new Quest 3 virtual reality headset. 

Chewy (CHWY) soared 21.57%. The online pet-supply retailer posted an unexpected quarterly profit.

Domino's Pizza (DPZ) rose 2.35%, as the stock was upgraded to "overweight" at JPMorgan.

On the other hand, Salesforce.com (CRM) fell 4.69%. The business-software developer reported its lowest quarterly sales growth in thirteen years.

Dollar General (DG) plunged 19.51%. The operator of discount stores slashed its annual profit forecast.

C3.ai (AI) sank 13.22%. The artificial intelligence firm gave a lower-than-expected sales forecast for the current quarter.

Lucid Group (LCID) plunged 16.24%. The electric-vehicle maker is raising $3 billion in capital through a stock offering.

European stocks closed higher. The DAX 40 rose 1.21%, the CAC 40 climbed 0.55%, and the FTSE 100 was up 0.59%.

U.S. WTI crude futures rebounded $2.00 to $70.05 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Department reported an addition of 4.49 million barrels in crude-oil stockpiles (vs a reduction of 1.39 million barrels expected).

Gold price rose $14 to $1,977 an ounce.

Market Wrap: Forex

The U.S. dollar weakened against other major currencies. The dollar index declined to 103.55.

EUR/USD rose 71 pips to 1.0760. The Eurozone's data showed that the inflation rate slowed to 6.1% on year in May (vs 6.5% expected), and the jobless rate ticked down to 6.5% in April (as expected).

Germany's retail sales were up 0.8% on month in April (vs +1.5% expected).

USD/JPY slid 53 pips to 138.81. This morning, the Bank of Japan reported that the monetary base expanded 1.1% on year in May (vs +1.7% in April).

GBP/USD climbed 84 pips to 1.2525. In the U.K., the Nationwide housing price index declined 0.1% on month in May (vs +0.3% expected).

AUD/USD gained 69 pips to 0.6572.

USD/CHF dipped 47 pips to 0.9060.

USD/CAD fell 120 pips to 1.3454.

Bitcoin still lacked upward momentum trading lower to $26,700.

Bitcoin traded lower to $27,200.

Gold Intraday: the upside prevails

Pivot:
1964.00
 
Our preference:
Long positions above 1964.00 with targets at 1985.00 & 1994.00 in extension.
 
Alternative scenario:
Below 1964.00 look for further downside with 1957.00 & 1951.00 as targets.


Comment:
The RSI is mixed with a bullish bias.

Crude Oil (WTI)‎ (N3)‎ Intraday: intraday support around 69.15

Pivot:
69.15
 
Our preference:
Long positions above 69.15 with targets at 71.00 & 72.00 in extension.
 
Alternative scenario:
Below 69.15 look for further downside with 68.30 & 67.50 as targets.


Comment:
The next resistances are at 71.00 and then at 72.00.

EUR/USD Intraday: 1.0800 in sight. 

Pivot:
1.0730
 
Our preference:
Long positions above 1.0730 with targets at 1.0780 & 1.0800 in extension.
 
Alternative scenario:
Below 1.0730 look for further downside with 1.0710 & 1.0690 as targets.


Comment:
The RSI is bullish and calls for further upside.

Bitcoin / Dollar intraday: the downside prevails as long as 27160 is resistance

Our pivot point is at 27160.
 
Our preference:
The downside prevails as long as 27160 is resistance.
 
Alternative scenario:
Above 27160, look for 27510 and 27710.


Comment:
The RSI is below 50. The MACD is below its signal line and negative. The configuration is negative. Moreover, the price is trading under both its 20 and 50 period moving average (respectively at 26915 and 26950).

Hang Seng (HKFE)‎ (HK50)‎ Intraday: look for 18690.00.

Pivot:
18330.00
 
Our preference:
Long positions above 18330.00 with targets at 18690.00 & 18860.00 in extension.
 
Alternative scenario:
Below 18330.00 look for further downside with 18080.00 & 17950.00 as targets.


Comment:
The break above 18330.00 is a positive signal that has opened a path to 18690.00.

*VSTAR.com is not a financial advisor and not responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.