EARNINGS SEASON KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR; NAIRA STEADY

By

Lukman Otunuga,

FXTM Research Analyst

The Nigerian Naira held steady against the Dollar on Tuesday, as investors awaited the nation’s Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMI data for April, scheduled for release on Friday. With today’s economic calendar for Nigeria void of Tier 1 economic reports, the Naira is poised to remain influenced by external drivers, in the form of rising Oil prices and the Dollar’s valuation. With a handsome chunk of Nigeria’s export revenues acquired from Oil sales, appreciating Oil prices will be warmly welcomed by the economy.

Elsewhere, market players seem to be adopting a cautious approach ahead of the next wave of corporate earnings and this continues to be reflected across global stocks. With the earnings season kicking into higher gear, this will certainly be another busy week for financial markets as investors try to assess the health of the global economy. The earnings calendar for this week is jam-packed, with Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, Exxon and many others under the spotlight. Should earnings from these big companies disappoint, appetite for riskier assets is poised to take a hit, as renewed growth fears will send investors to safe-haven assets.

Bitcoin hits fresh 2019 high…what next?

Bitcoin marched to a fresh 2019 high above $5600 during the Asia trading session on Tuesday morning. 

With the sharp and abrupt appreciation happening within a 30-minute window and no reports released explaining the cause, the culprit could be price action. The technical picture for BTCUSD is looking increasingly bullish on the daily charts, with the fabled bullish ‘golden cross’ slowly coming into play. Should the 50-day Simple Moving Average cross above the 200-day Moving Average, bulls could be injected with enough inspiration to attack $6000.

Gold struggles to push back above $1280

Gold’s performance in recent weeks has been bearish, thanks to a stabilizing Dollar, easing concerns over slowing global growth and rising equity markets. 

While the yellow metal is likely to edge lower in the near-term, the medium to longer term outlook still points in favour of further upside. The combination of geopolitical risk factors, ongoing US-China trade developments, lingering concerns over slowing global growth, Brexit and a dovish Federal Reserve remain core themes that have the potential to boost appetite for Gold.

Much attention will be directed towards the US Q1 GDP data scheduled for release on Friday, which should provide fresh insight into the health of the largest economy in the world. Should the GDP data disappoint expectations, Gold is seen re-challenging $1280 and potentially $1300. 

Focusing on the technical picture, bears still remain in control below the $1280 level. Sustained weakness below this point could open the gates towards $1260.