On June 21, the closing day of the "Triple Witching" for US stocks in the week of June 17-21, options worth nearly $5.5 trillion on Wall Street expired, and the market experienced violent fluctuations due to ETFs rebalancing caused by index adjustments at the end of the quarter.
The U.S. exchange saw turnover of 18 billion shares, up a staggering 55% from the three-month average, and the volume of S&P 500 index futures in the final trading session surged 30% above the daily average.
The S&P has risen for three consecutive weeks, the Nasdaq wiped out its entire weekly gain, and the Dow remained at its four-week high. The semiconductor stocks fell for two consecutive days, and the industry index fell 1% for the week. Some analysts believe that both the technical face and the funds flowing into technology stocks show that technology stocks have been overbought in the short term and may have risen too much. It is not surprising to see a correction in the short term. The momentum that has driven Nvidia's stock price up may weaken after the options expire on Friday.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell by 0.73% on the second trading day in five days, with bank stocks leading the decline, but rising 0.8% for the entire week. The French political storm ushered in a turning point, and the stock index rose 1.7% for the entire week. European semiconductor companies generally fell.
US Treasury yields fell to a daily low before the release of positive PMI data in the United States, then rebounded and rose. The two-year US Treasury yields, which are more sensitive to monetary policy, rose more than 2 basis points for the entire week. The 10-year basic bond yield rose to 4.28%, up nearly 4 basis points for the week, and in the previous Friday, US Treasury yields had fallen to the lowest level in ten weeks since early April. The yield spread between French and German basic bonds is the widest in twelve years.
The fuel demand for summer travel and cooling has driven oil prices up for two consecutive weeks. WTI rose by more than 3.43% in the four trading days of this week, rising 3.9% last week and stopping a three-week decline. Brent oil rose 3.17% for the entire week, also rising for two consecutive weeks, and rose 2.8% last week. US natural gas rose more than 6% for the entire week.
The market believes that the cooling economic data supports the United States to cut interest rates as soon as possible, which is good for precious metals. Elections in many places around the world and escalated conflicts in the Middle East have provided support for safe-haven assets. Gold prices should have continued to rise for a second consecutive week, but they quickly fell after hitting a two-week high on Friday, and fell by about 0.6% for the entire week. Spot silver fell 0.2% for the entire week.
Spot palladium once rose by 11% and briefly broke through the $1,000 mark, reaching a month-high. Analysts believe that the short-covering of palladium bearish positions was boosted by automakers actively replenishing the catalysts to inhibit the emissions of internal combustion engines. The rise of the US dollar is putting pressure on London industrial metal prices.
The European Central Bank has a more dovish monetary policy stance than the US Federal Reserve, which continues to boost the US dollar in the short term. The US dollar index has risen for three consecutive weeks, the yen has fallen to an eight-week low below 159, and the euro and pound have fallen to at least a five-week low.
This week, the optional consumer sector rose by 2.5%, the energy sector rose by more than 1.8%, the financial sector rose by 1.70%, the industrial sector rose by 1.55%, the daily consumer goods sector rose by 0.89%, the telecommunications sector rose by 0.77%, the raw materials sector rose by 0.76%, the healthcare sector rose by 0.58%, the real estate sector fell by 0.45%, the technology sector fell by 0.66%, and the utility sector fell by 0.77%.
Edited by Jeffrey