Monetary Policies, SPY, and EWU Fly High on US Jobs Report
(Continued from Prior Part)
EWU sees liftoff
The iShares MSCI United Kingdom (EWU) rebounded by 0.71% on Friday, December 4, 2015, after its collapse on Thursday, December 3. The sell-off in the UK equities came as a result of a dovish policy statement made by the ECB’s (European Central Bank) President, Mario Draghi, which failed to meet investor expectations.
Then the ECB President thereafter assured investors with a “no-limit” support to the economies of the Eurozone, which lifted European stocks as well as EWU.
Key EWU stocks
Stocks at the top of the iShares MSCI United Kingdom (EWU) on December 4 were Sage Group (SGE), Easyjet (EZJ), and Randgold Resources (RRS), which gained by 5.2%, 2.8%, and 2.6%, respectively, on the day.
The graph above compares the stock price movement of Randgold Resources (RRS) with BHP Billiton (BHP) (BLT) since October 2015. Below are a few key takeaways:
- The trailing five-day return of Randgold Resources (RRS) on December 4 was 7.3%.
- RRS traded at $6,458.7, which was above its 100-day, 50-day and 20-day moving average prices.
- The stock’s 100-day, 50-day and 20-day moving average were $6,078.3, $6,325.2, and $6,052.7, respectively, which suggests an uptrend in the price movement of the stock.
- The stock has earned 12 “Buy,” two “Sell,” and ten “Hold” recommendations.
Stocks at the bottom of EWU on the day were Tullow Oil (TLW), Weir Group (WEIR), and Glencore (GLEN), whose stocks yielded -5.4%, -3.4%, and -3.3%, respectively.
Sector performances
Stocks in the US and the UK rose on December 4, as both the divergent monetary policies were clear for investors. The financial sector gained the most on the day. Stocks of banks like Lloyds Banking Group (LYG), Prudential (PUK), Barclays (BCS), and HSBC Holdings (HSBC) returned 1.6%, 1.3%, 1.5%, and 0.5%, respectively, on December 4.
The consumer sector also performed well on the day, as the stocks of Unilever (UL), Diageo (DEO), British American Tobacco (BTI) yielded 1.7%, 1.1%, 0.7%, respectively.
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