The charts that matter: Amazon hits a bump in the road

Amazon shares slid back this week despite results surprising to the upside. Here’s what happened to the charts that matter most to the global economy.

Welcome back.

This week’s magazine focuses on Big Tech. The speed at which it has taken over our lives is astonishing, and the amount of data we willingly hand over to the world’s biggest companies defies belief. Sure, we’re getting some fantastically convenient technology in return, but, if you stop to think about it for a little while, the power we’ve relinquished over our lives is quite frightening. Our every move –almost our every thought –can be taken down and may be used in evidence against us. Dominic Frisby takes a look at just what’s possible and asks if Big Tech is morphing into Big Brother. Of course, all this is very profitable, and Dominic also picks some of the sector’s best stocks for your consideration.

In the podcast this week, Merryn talks to Gabrielle Boyle, manager of the Trojan Global Equity fund. Gabrielle explains her investment philosophy, why sustainability and diversity make good business sense, and makes a plea for more women to enter the fund management business. Listen to what she has to say here.

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This week’s “Too Embarrassed To Ask” video takes a look at Ponzi schemes, perhaps the best-known of the many financial scams people seem to get into, and explains what they are and how they work. Watch that here.

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

Now for the charts of the week.

The charts that matter

Gold perked up again, continuing its rally after early March’s low.

Gold price chart

(Image credit: Gold price chart)

(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) bounced a little after its recent falls.

US dollar index chart

(Image credit: US dollar index chart)

(DXY: three months)

The Chinese yuan (or renminbi) seemed to be treading water against the US dollar (when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening).

USD/CNY currency chart

(Image credit: USD/CNY currency chart)

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

The downward drift in the yield on the ten-year US government bond resumed.

US Treasury bond yield chart

(Image credit: US Treasury bond yield chart)

(Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months)

The yield on the Japanese ten-year bond also resumed its decline.

Japanese government bond yield chart

(Image credit: Japanese government bond yield chart)

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

The yield on the ten-year German Bund, found the approach to zero a little too rich for its liking, and dropped back.

German Bund yield chart

(Image credit: German Bund yield chart)

(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)

There was no stopping Copper’s resumption of its bull market, something that’s likely to continue, as Dominic explained on Tuesday.

Copper price chart

(Image credit: Copper price chart)

(Copper: nine months)

The closely-related Aussie dollar hasn’t followed the red metal up quite so strongly, however.

AUD/USD currency chart

(Image credit: AUD/USD currency chart)

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

Cryptocurrency bitcoin trod water, in contrast to ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, which hit an all time high, as Saloni wrote about this week.

Bitcoin price chart

(Image credit: Bitcoin price chart)

(Bitcoin: three months)

US weekly initial jobless claims continued their decline – down 92,000 to 498,000, compared to 590,000 last week (revised up from 553,000). It’s the lowest number of claims since March 2020. The four-week moving average fell to 560,000, down 61,000 from 621,000 (which was revised down from 611,750) the week before.

US weekly jobless claims

(Image credit: US weekly jobless claims)

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

The oil price continued to climb.

Brent crude oil price chart

(Image credit: Brent crude oil price chart)

(Brent crude oil: three months)

Amazon hit its highest price for six months or so, but then sold off sharply, despite posting better than expected results. A blip, or a re-start of the “great rotation” out of growth and back to value?

Amazon share price chart

(Image credit: Amazon share price chart)

(Amazon: three months)

Tesla continued to fall, too.

Tesla share price chart

(Image credit: Tesla share price chart)

(Tesla: three months)

Have a great weekend.

Ben

Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.