Investing.com – Take a peek at the top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this week.
Oil prices posted worst first-half performance since 1998
Despite settling higher for the seventh session in a row on Friday, oil prices suffered their worst first half-yearly performance since 1998, falling 14% as traders continued to fret about oversupply in the market, despite Opec and its allies’ efforts to tackle the supply and demand imbalance in the industry.
The rally in oil prices in the latter part of June culminated with an unexpected dip in the number of active U.S. drilling rigs, after Baker Hughes reported that its U.S. rig count fell by 2 to a total of 756, ending a trend that has seen the number of U.S. rigs increase for six-straight months.
Prior to the recent rally crude prices had dipped into bear market territory, on the back of data showing that Nigeria and Libya, countries exempt from the Opec production cuts, are set to ramp up crude production, adding to the glut in supply.
Nike bagged nearly 11% after revealing solid quarterly performance
Shares of Nike (NYSE:NKE) surged nearly 11% on Friday, a day after the sportswear maker posted quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations.
Nike reported earnings of 60 cents per share on revenue of $8.68 billion, well above Wall Street estimates of earnings of 50 cents per share on revenue of 8.63 billion.
The sportswear giant based its solid quarterly performance on steady revenue growth in its international geographies and direct-to-consumer businesses.
Gold suffered its first monthly loss for the year
Investor expectations that central banks would begin to tighten monetary policy pushed global bond yields higher, and decreased demand for non-interest bearing gold, resulting in the precious metal’s first monthly loss for the year.
Gold’s losses, however, were limited, by a slump in the dollar, as the greenback fell to a fourth-straight month of losses despite Fed chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday, reiterating the need to raise rates “very gradually”.
Nasdaq notched its best first half-yearly performance since 2009
Despite ending Friday’s session in negative territory, the Nasdaq outperformed both the Dow and S&P 500 year-to-date, surging 14% and posting its largest first-half gains since 2009.
The tech-heavy index has had to contend with a recent slump in technology stocks, which fell more than 2% over the past month but failed to dent overall optimism, as the tech sector has added about 15% in 2017.
The dollar wobbled to its worst quarterly performance in seven years
The dollar came under heavy selling pressure this week, falling to multi-month lows against its rivals, after the euro, pound and Canadian dollar surged, following comments from central bank leaders, hinting at tapering ultra-low accommodative monetary policy measures.
GBP/USD surged above the $1.30, after Bank of England governor Mark Carney, appeared to reverse his recent assertion that there ‘was no need to raise rates soon’, suggesting earlier in the week that “some removal of monetary stimulus is likely to become necessary”.
USD/CAD hovered above four-month lows, as the Canadian dollar soared, after Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz reiterated the central bank may be considering raising interest rates, asserting that rate cuts from 2015 ‘have done their job’.
The euro had its best quarter in seven months, as traders continued to pile into the single currency, despite European Central Bank (ECB) sources saying markets misjudged ECB president Mario Draghi’s comments earlier in the week.