Dubai: In the last week before the US Thanksgiving holiday, investors will be keeping an eye out for US Federal Reserve’s minutes from October and for more signs on how the world’s biggest economy is holding up.
Ahead of a final rush of Fed speeches preceding the final Fed meeting of the year, global indices ended last week on a positive note, whirling to multi-year highs on fresh US-China trade deal hopes.
President Donald Trump’s most influential economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that the world’s top two economies have made “very good progress” amid “constructive talks” aimed at ending their 16-month trade dispute. Wilbur Ross, the US Commerce Secretary noted that there would be no deal until there was a “deal on everything.”
“We’re getting close,” Kudlow said. “The mood music is pretty good, and that has not always been so in these things.”
Analysts at FAB Securities reiterated in a note that comments from Kudlow helped boost investor sentiment. “Higher than expected retail sales data and China’s lifting of a five-year ban on US poultry imports also underpinned the rebound.”
Oil indices too ended the week on a high footing as markets shifted to riskier assets following the latest Sino-U. S. trade news, Investors are hence expected to keep an eye on oil price movements the coming weeks.
“The outcome of trade talks between both countries will push and prod oil prices over the next few weeks and we would caution that markets have previously priced in an imminent deal only for policymakers to subvert it with new, stringent requests,” said Edward Bell, a commodity analyst at Emirates NBD Research.
Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) is also expected to remain in focus, particularly in the Middle East. Analysts say that in the coming week markets will witness a ripple effect as a result of huge demand seen from local investors to get a bite out of the mammoth IPO on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul.
“I believe the optimism will continue throughout the coming weeks which will follow the global markets rally and confidence,” said Mohamed Zidan, Chief Market Strategist for ThinkMarkets in Dubai. “The remaining liquidity from the IPO will be injected to the markets again”.
