Meanwhile, WTI oil is trying to rebound after a three-day sell-off.
U.S. has just released Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Jobless Claims reports which are especially interesting after the weak ADP Employment Change report that was published on Wednesday.
ADP Employment Change report indicated that private businesses hired 330,000 workers in July, which was well short of analyst expectations of 695,000.
Today, Initial Jobless Claims report indicated that 385,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits in a week compared to analyst consensus of 384,000.
Continuing Jobless Claims declined from 3.3 million (revised from 3.27 million) to 2.93 million compared to analyst consensus of 3.26 million.
S&P 500 futures are moving higher after the release of job market reports, and the stock market is set to open not far from all-time high levels.
WTI oil found support near the $68 level and is trying to gain upside momentum after a three-day sell-off which was triggered by worries about the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus in China and U.S.
Yesterday, EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report indicated that crude inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels, which served as an additional bearish catalyst for the oil market. Meanwhile, U.S. domestic oil production remained flat at 11.2 million barrels, and there are no signs of rising domestic production despite strong oil prices.
It should be noted that oil-related stocks did not develop strong downside momentum during the last three trading sessions which indicates that market’s demand for the stocks of this segment is healthy despite the recent sell-off in the oil market. In this light, oil-related stocks should have a decent chance to rebound during today’s trading session in case WTI oil manages to settle above $68.50.
Gold failed to settle above the resistance at $1830 and declined towards the 20 EMA at $1810.
The U.S. dollar is losing some ground against a broad basket of currencies, but it looks that precious metals need additional catalysts to gain sustainable upside momentum.
In this environment, gold mining stocks may have another challenging trading session today.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.
Vladimir is an independent trader and analyst with over 10 years of experience in the financial markets. He is a specialist in stocks, futures, Forex, indices, and commodities areas using long-term positional trading and swing trading.