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Strong Economic Reports From China Boost Markets

By:
Vladimir Zernov

Commodity-related stocks will be in focus today.

U.S. Stock Market

In this article:

China’s GDP Grew By 18.3% Year-Over-Year In The First Quarter

S&P 500 futures are moving higher in premarket trading as traders cheer positive economic data from China.

China reported that its GDP grew by 18.3% year-over-year in the first quarter. Analysts expected that China’s GDP would grow by 19%.

A year ago, China was hit by the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and its economy managed to quickly recover from this blow. Retail Sales grew by 34.2% year-over-year in March, while Industrial Production increased by 14.1%.

The data looks so strong because it is compared with a weak first quarter of 2020, but the speed of the recovery is still remarkable. Positive economic reports from China provided significant support to commodity markets and also boosted global equity markets.

Gold Gets To Monthly Highs As Treasury Yields Move Lower

Gold managed to get above the resistance at the 50 EMA at $1760 and gained additional upside momentum as Treasury yields remained under pressure following the release of strong economic data in the U.S.

Currently, gold is moving towards the $1800 level. Silver is also moving higher and is trying to settle above the significant resistance in the $26.25 – $26.30 area. In this light, shares of gold and silver miners will have a strong start of today’s trading session.

Housing Starts Increased By 19.4% In March

The U.S. has just released Building Permits and Housing Starts reports. Building Permits increased by 2.7% month-over-month in March compared to analyst forecast which called for growth of 2.9%.

Housing Starts grew by 19.4% in March after declining by 11.3% in February. Analysts expected that Housing Starts would grow by 11.2%.

The reports indicated that the housing market continued to grow after a pause in February. This is not surprising as the U.S. economy got an additional boost from the new round of economic stimulus.

Today, traders will also have a chance to take a look at Consumer Confidence data for April. Analysts expect that Consumer Confidence will increase from 84.9 in March to 89.6 in April.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.

About the Author

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.

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