Top 5 Things to Know In the Market on Monday

Un trader a lavoro. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

 

Below you will find the top five events that you should be aware of during the week:

1. Cable hits 3-month lows, pound at 3-year low against euro on Brexit deadline

Sterling dropped to three-month lows against the U.S. dollar and three-year lows against the euro on Monday, as British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that the U.K. would trigger Article 50 by the end of March 2017.

Article 50 is the formal procedure necessary to officially announce its decision to leave the European Union (EU) and begin forging new trade arrangements.

GBP/USD hit 1.2846 during European morning trade, the pair’s lowest since July 6; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2879, declining 0.76% at 5:58AM ET (9:58GMT).

The pound also hit a three-year low against the euro with EUR/GBP hitting 0.8747; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.8725, rising 76%.

2. ISM manufacturing expected to enter expansion

On the U.S. economic front, all eyes will be on a gauge of manufacturing activity to see if the sector managed to leave contractionary territory in September.

The U.S. Institute of Supply Management (ISM) is to release its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT) on Monday. The gauge is expected to rise to 50.3, after falling to a seven-month low of 49.4 a month earlier.

Anything above 50.0 signals expansion, below indicates contraction.

3. European and British manufacturing show solid readings

Earlier, similar gauges of manufacturing activity in Europe gave positive signals.

Euro zone manufacturing PMI was confirmed at 52.6 in September, having risen from the prior month’s reading of 51.7.

U.K. manufacturing PMI jumped to 55.4 in the same month, it’s highest level since June 2014, according to market research group Markit.

4. Twitter soars 6% on Google bid rumors

Rumors continue to fly over the fact that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) could be a potential takeover target.

Late Friday, Bloomberg cited sources saying that Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had hired Lazard Ltd to explore a possible purchase of the social media company.

The move could pit Alphabet’s largest subsidiary against other potential suitors such as Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), Walt Disney or Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Shares of Twitter jumped 5.64% in pre-market trade on Monday.

5. Oil hits 3-month high as investors weigh OPEC agreement and supply glut

West Texas Intermediate oil hit a three-month high with the London barrel holding over $50 on Monday as investors continued to weigh OPEC’s preliminary agreement to reach a production cap deal at its November 30 meeting.

The rise continued what had been the biggest monthly gain since April.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 0.74% to $48at 5:47AM ET (9:47AM GMT), while Brent oilrose 0.71% to $50.76.

 

Source: Investing.com