Crude oil posted its worst weekly loss in nine months as the US dollar gained +0.77% for the week and +0.61% in Friday trading, dashing any attempt by crude prices to rebound on tensions in the Middle East and a week of negative news on Covid here in the US as the Delta variant takes hold.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI), the benchmark for US oil, settled Friday's trade down -.81 cents, or -1.2%, at $68.28 per barrel. For the week, WTI lost -7.7%, its most since the -10% drop during the week to Oct. 23, 2020.
The DOW rose 144.26 points or +0.41% and closed at an all-time high of 35,208.51. The S&P 500 rose +0.17% to clinch its own record close at 4,436.52, while the NASDAQ dipped -0.40% to settle at 14,835.76.
The DOW rose +0.78% for the week for its second positive week out of the last three. The S&P 500 rose +0.94% for the week and is now up 18.12% for the year, and the NASDAQ finished up the week +1.1% higher.
Friday's jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 943,000 jobs in July, according to the Labor Department. Economists expected the economy to have added 845,000 jobs last month, according to estimates from Dow Jones. As a result, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%, below the estimate of 5.7%.
Key Levels To Watch Next Week:
- S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 4,233.13
- Dow (INDEX:DJI): 33,741.76
- NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 14,178.66
- U.S. Dollar (ICE:DX): 93.06
- Gold (NYMEX:GC.Z21): 1,815.20
- Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.U21): 70.18
- Bitcoin (BITCOIN:BITSTAMPUSD): 29,296.39
Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com
