The charts that matter: tech stocks hit new highs

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index hit new highs this week. Here’s how it affected the charts that matter most to the global economy.

Welcome back.

In this week’s magazine, we’re taking a look at the private equity sector’s feeding frenzy in UK stockmarkets. Supermarket chain Morrisons is the latest target, but it won’t be the last. UK stocks are cheap compared to world markets, and even if a lot of other people haven’t recognised it, private equity investors have, and are sniffing around for bargains. That’s a good thing, says Matthew Lynn in his City View column. And John explains how you can buy in.

And this week’s “Too Embarrassed To Ask” video gives you a quick run down on just what private equity is, for those of you who are unsure. You can watch that here.

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We may not have had a star guest in last week’s podcast, but we certainly do for this week’s. Merryn managed to get the Bank of England’s outgoing chief economist (he finished up on Thursday) Andy Haldane. They talked about a lot of things – the post-pandemic economic recovery, the prospect of inflation, financial repression, bitcoin, and central bank digital currencies. All that took a little longer than most podcasts – it runs to around 40 minutes rather than the usual 30 – but it really is worth your time. Find out everything he has to say here.

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

Now for the charts of the week.

The charts that matter

Gold stabilised after the previous week’s big plunge.

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) dropped a little and steadied after shooting up on the prospect of higher interest rates.

US dollar index chart

(Image credit: US dollar index chart)

(DXY: three months)

The Chinese yuan (or renminbi) weakened (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 yield on the ten-year US government bond settled down.

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 wobbled, then turned back up.

Japanese government bond yield chart

(Image credit: Japanese government bond yield chart)

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

And the yield on the ten-year German Bund clawed back a little more of its losses, before rethinking towards the end of the week.

German Bund yield chart

(Image credit: German Bund yield chart)

(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)

Copper turned back up, but the commodities supercycle does seem to be pausing for breath.

Copper price chart

(Image credit: Copper price chart)

(Copper: nine months)

The closely-related Aussie dollar followed the copper price back up.

AUD/USD currency chart

(Image credit: AUD/USD currency chart)

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

Bitcoin fell further at the start of the week, but managed to stabilise, regaining some of its losses. Read more on that in Saloni’s weekly cryptocurrency roundup.

Bitcoin price chart

(Image credit: Bitcoin price chart)

(Bitcoin: three months)

US weekly initial jobless claims slipped further, down 7,000 to 411,000, compared to 418,000 last week. The four-week moving average rose slightly, however, up 1,500 to 397,750 from 396,250 the week before.

US weekly initial jobless claims

(Image credit: US weekly initial jobless claims)

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

The oil price continued its bull market.

Brent crude oil price chart

(Image credit: Brent crude oil price chart)

(Brent crude oil: three months)

Amazon slipped a little from the previous week’s climb.

Amazon share price chart

(Image credit: Amazon share price chart)

(Amazon: three months)

And finally, Tesla saw a big jump in its share price as the Nasdaq hit a new high this week.

Tesla share price chart

(Image credit: Tesla share price chart)

(Tesla: three months)

Have a great weekend.

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.