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T3’s Take 3: Yellen Goes Hawk, Spikes the Dollar

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1) Yellen Goes Full Hawk

Today, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Franscisco, and she swung her hawk hammer.

Yellen said the Fed is close to meeting its dual mandate of full employment and price stability, and that Fed officials expect a few rate hikes this year.

The US dollar immediately ripped on the news, gaining 1.7% against the yen and 0.7% against the euro.

The dollar in strength put a hurting on gold, which fell -0.7%. The ever-volatile gold miners ETF(GDX) dropped -1.5%.

2) Stocks Bounce

Yellen's hawkiskhness drove a rebound in stocks, and the S&P 500 managed to squeeze up 0.2% to 2271.89.

That's not exactly exciting, but there were some signs of strength under the hood.

The Russell 2000 rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Biotech ETF (IBB) rose 0.8%.

Yellen's hawk talk drove the S&P Financials ETF (XLF) up 0.8%, with Regional Banks (KRE) up 1.1%.

Retail, energy, and US Treasuries led the decliners' column today.

After the close today, Netflix (NFLX) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and surged over $10.

3) Jeff Cooper on Gold

This afternoon, T3 Live's Jeff Cooper issued the following analysis of gold:

Yesterday, GLD gapped up into a shelf of resistance from the spring of 2016 around 115.

Today, after treading water in the early going, the bears came out to play. GLD is pulling back into the gap window from yesterday. GLD and the miners have done a lot of work and are entitled to inhale.

However, GLD is doing something it hasn't done for many moon: GLD has delivered a Golden Cross with the 50 week crossing above the 200.

Click here to learn more about Jeff Cooper's Daily Market Report.

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