The SEC proposes to end quarterly earnings reports, influencing financial disclosure practices. Canada’s retail sales in July fell by 0.8%, compared to a 1.5% expected increase. US GDP Nowcast edged higher to 2.1%, with gold rising by $39 to $3683.<\/p>\n
The rally in gold and optimism from US-China trade talks bolstered the Canadian dollar (CAD), making it the top performer, while the British pound (GBP) lagged. US oil rigs counted increased by two, but WTI crude oil saw a decline, dropping 84 cents to $62.73.<\/p>\n
The S&P 500 closed up 31 points, at 6664, marking a new record and continuing a notable upward trend since the financial crisis low. Leading stocks included Oracle (+4.3%), Amgen (+3.3%), and Apple (+3.1%), while Intel fell by 3%.<\/p>\n
In the currency market, USD\/JPY remained flat despite anticipated changes in interest rates by Bank of Japan. Equities stabilised midway through trading before gaining momentum, leading to fresh records for indices.<\/p>\n
The stock market continues to hit new records, but we should use options to protect against any sudden shifts in sentiment. The S&P 500 is now up more than 30% year-to-date, and the VIX is trading near 14.5, a level that historically has preceded short-term market pullbacks. We can buy put options on major indices like the SPX or SPY with expirations in late October or November to hedge our long positions.<\/p>\n
The proposal to end quarterly reporting by the SEC is a major development that will change how we trade company earnings. If this rule is adopted, we could see a significant increase in implied volatility for options contracts surrounding the new semi-annual reporting dates. In the coming weeks, we should consider buying long-dated straddles or strangles on companies with high growth expectations, as the reduced frequency of updates could lead to much larger price swings when information is finally released.<\/p>\n
Gold has broken out to over $3,600 an ounce, a move that we cannot ignore as it signals significant underlying inflation fears. The latest Consumer Price Index report from August showed core inflation holding stubbornly at 3.8%, which challenges the Fed’s view that price pressures are temporary. We should look at call options on gold miners or gold ETFs to ride this momentum, as it appears the market is pricing in sustained currency debasement.<\/p>\n
Positive signals on U.S.-China trade are good for the market, but the Canadian dollar’s strength on this news is particularly noteworthy. Despite Canada’s own terrible retail sales data, the loonie rallied, showing how sensitive currency markets are to trade headlines right now. We could use this to our advantage by trading options on currency pairs like the AUD\/USD, which is also highly sensitive to China’s economic outlook.<\/p>\n
The Federal Reserve has cut rates, but the 10-year Treasury yield is still ticking up, creating a complex environment for interest rate derivatives. We remember how the Fed was forced to pivot aggressively back in 2022 and 2023 when inflation proved to be more persistent than they first thought. Traders should be cautious and could use options on bond ETFs like TLT to position for the possibility that the bond market is correctly predicting higher inflation ahead.<\/p>\n
Crude oil remains surprisingly weak near $62 a barrel even with a small increase in the rig count. This suggests the market is more focused on global growth concerns than on supply, especially with the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve sitting at its lowest levels since the early 1980s. This low price could present an opportunity to buy long-dated call options on oil futures, betting that any positive economic surprise or supply disruption could cause a sharp price spike.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SEC eyes ending quarterly reports; gold rallies, CAD strengthens, S&P 500 hits record high amid optimism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":16988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}