Crude oil led the global asset class during the week of February 23 to March 1 due to news that OPEC+ is considering extending production cuts. The Vietnamese stock market stands out from the rest of the world, and Japanese stocks continued to reach new highs and hit the 40,000 mark.
European, American, and Japanese stock indices once hit record highs this week. Among them, the three major US stock indices continued to rise for four months, and the S&P and Dow recorded the biggest increase in the first two months of the year since 2019; European stock trends diverged, and German stocks hit record highs, rising for four consecutive months.
In terms of other commodities, gold continued to rise, silver picked up, and iron ore led the decline in major global assets.
Among domestic related cross-border ETF/LOF funds, S&P Biotech LOF, Global Chip LOF, and Nikkei ETF had the highest gains; Southeast Asia Technology ETF, Harvest Crude Oil LOF, and India Fund LOF led the decline.
On the stock market side
Supported by the biotech and chip sectors, US stocks hit record highs during the week. Despite continuous fluctuations thereafter, the S&P Index remained at an all-time high even after the rebound. Combined with heavy PCE growth not exceeding expectations, S&P achieved the best opening performance in five years. This week, the S&P 500 closed up 0.9%, the Dow down 0.1%, the NASDAQ 1.7%, the NASDAQ 100 closed up 1.66%, and Russell 2000 closed up 3%.
Easing expectations are heating up. After breaking through the historical high of the “bubble period” last week, the Nikkei 225 Index continued to hit a record high this week, hitting the 40,000 mark. So far this year, the Nikkei 225 Index has risen nearly 20% during the year, and Japan's TSE Index has risen nearly 14% during the year. Furthermore, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Index closed up 3.8% and India's SENSEX30 Index closed up 0.8% this week.
Although the Eurozone manufacturing PMI contracted for the 20th month in a row in February, the decline was the lowest in nearly a year, indicating a slowdown in the degree of decline in Eurozone manufacturing activity. As a result, thanks to Friday's upward trend, Stoke 600 surged slightly this week, rising for six consecutive weeks. Stock indices from various countries showed mixed performance. German stocks rose nearly 2%, rising for four weeks, Italian stocks rising less than 1%, and rising for six weeks. French stocks, which had been rising for three weeks, and Western stocks, which rebounded last week, all fell for two weeks.
On the bond market side
The release of economic data such as the ISM manufacturing index for February on Friday strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates. Combined with the comments of the Federal Reserve's “Most Popular Vote Committee” Waller, US bond yields declined in response. Among them, due to the dive in yields on Friday, two-year US Treasury yields stopped rising for a month, falling for the first time in a single week since the end of January.
European bond yields generally rose this week. The 10-year British bond yield increased by a cumulative total of about 8 basis points, and German bond yields rose by about 5 basis points during the same period, all rebounding after two weeks of continuous rise at the end of last week.
Product aspect
Affected by news that OPEC+ is considering extending production cuts, $80 on the US gas station hit a four-month high, but then declined somewhat. This week, the cumulative increase of US oil was about 3.2%, and the cumulative increase of oil was about 3.4%. They all rebounded after falling back last week. They have been rising for the fifth week in the last seven weeks, and only fell last week in February. In the 21 weeks since the outbreak of the conflict between Palestine and Israel, crude oil has declined for a total of 11 weeks.
Gold rose for two consecutive weeks, closing up 2.2% this week; iron ore continued to lead the decline in major global assets; and Luntong suspended its two-week rise and closed down 0.7%.
In terms of exchange rates
The US dollar index has accumulated slight declines this week and failed to rebound after ending a seven-week streak of gains last week.
edit/emily