The charts that matter: gold up; dollar down

In this week’s magazine we take a look at what investors can learn from the disastrous Deliveroo IPO. We also look at the luxury goods sector – which has proved surprisingly resilient throughout the pandemic and is set for “years of galloping growth”, says Stephen Connolly. He picks some of the best stocks to buy.

Merryn’s on holiday, so this week John has taken over podcast duties. He talks to investor, analyst and author Steve Clapham about many things, but in particular about why you really need to know what you’re doing when you pick individual stocks (and why even if you’re just investing in funds, learning about how to value a company is very useful). Listen to that chat here, and get a discount on Steve’s latest book The Smart Money Method, to boot.

Speaking of funds, this week’s “Too Embarrassed To Ask” video explains what an “ETF” – AKA exchange-traded fund – is. You can watch the video here.

Here are the links for this week’s editions of Money Morning and other web stories you may have missed.

• Tuesday Money Morning: Inflationary pressure is building across the globe. But is it here to stay?
• Merryn’s Blog: Deliveroo’s IPO flop shows which way the market is going
• Web article: BP looks set to return more money to shareholders as it beats expectations
• Wednesday Money Morning: Tech has dominated the economy – but the real world is about to strike back
• Web article: What will Joe Biden’s “build back better” plan mean for markets?
• Thursday Money Morning: International tax competition is under threat – which stocks are most vulnerable?
• Web article: Central banks are rushing to build digital currencies. What are they, and what do they mean for you?
• Friday Money Morning: Nuclear power might never be popular – but now looks a good time to invest
• Web article: House prices: from boom to even bigger boom

Now for the charts of the week. 

The charts that matter 

Gold saw quite the rebound, back to its highest in six weeks or so. 

(Gold: three months)

The US dollar index (DXY – a measure of the strength of the dollar against a basket of the currencies of its major trading partners) plunged back down – could Joe Biden’s big spending plan have had an effect?

(DXY: three months)

The dollar’s weakness doesn’t seem to have been reflected against the Chinese yuan (or renminbi) however – when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening. 

(Chinese yuan to the US dollar: since 25 Jun 2019)

The yield on the ten-year US government bond continued to drift downwards slightly.

(Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months)

The yield on the Japanese ten-year bond dropped back after the previous week’s big rise.

(Ten-year Japanese government bond yield: three months)

And the yield on the ten-year German Bund drifted along in negative territory.

(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)

Copper, too, traded in a range.

(Copper: nine months)

And the closely-related Aussie dollar continued to struggle off its three-month low, and remains depressed.

(Aussie dollar vs US dollar exchange rate: three months)

Cryptocurrency bitcoin is biding its time, presumably before it either goes on another wild charge upwards or plummets by 30% or so, giving everyone plenty to talk about.

(Bitcoin: three months)

US weekly initial jobless claims rose by 16,000 to 744,000, compared to 728,000 last week (revised up from 719,000). The four-week moving average rose to 723,750, up 2,500 from 721,250 (which was revised up from 719,000) the week before. 

(US initial jobless claims, four-week moving average: since Jan 2020)

The oil price is another one that’s drifting along sideways.

(Brent crude oil: three months)

Amazon, however, was back, at the races.

(Amazon: three months)

But Tesla is also sidling along quietly.

(Tesla: three months)

Have a great weekend.