Shares of the world's largest retailer Walmart (NYSE: WMT) continued their upward trajectory, the stock hit a fresh all-time high of $169.94 on Wednesday. The stock gained more than 18% this year. The company is set to report its fiscal third-quarter earnings today before the market opens. The company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.52 per share and revenues are expected to be $159.72 billion. The retailer previously stated that it expected sales growth would be the strongest in the first half of the year and would moderate in the second half.

On Wednesday, the big-box retailer Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) shares jumped more than 17% after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, surpassing Wall Street’s projections. “In the third quarter, our team continued to successfully navigate our business through a very challenging external environment,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said.

EQUITIES

Wall Street's main indexes ended another day with strong gains on Wednesday as the markets expect no rate hike at the Fed's December meeting and increased bets for a rate cut in May. Moving ahead to the North American session, investors should closely monitor the release of Walmart's Q3'24 results and US Jobless claims report which might have a very high impact on Wall Street.

OIL

Crude oil prices edged down amid ongoing concerns of a slowdown in global demand. IEA said that the global oil market won’t be as tight as previously seen in the fourth quarter as increasing supply outpaced demand growth. On the other hand, the latest EIA data showed that US crude inventories jumped by about 3.6 million barrels last week, much more than market forecasts for a 1.8-million-barrel build.

CURRENCIES
In the currency market, the Euro held the early gains against the US dollar, British Pound and Japanese Yen ahead of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde's speech at the European Systemic Risk Board conference. Meantime, the US dollar index which measures the greenback against major peers is looking to regain the upside momentum following the recent significant drop in the dollar index. King dollar turned under pressure after the latest US CPI and PPI reports indicated that inflationary pressures are finally easing.

GOLD

Precious metals trading in a narrow range Thursday morning as investors and traders awaited comments by senior Federal Reserve officials. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, and New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams will be speaking in the American trading hours. As of this writing, gold price trades at $1965.

Economic Outlook

On the data front, US October retail sales slowed in October by less than expected. Retail sales slipped 0.1% last month and data for September was revised higher to show sales increasing 0.9% instead of the previously reported 0.7% rise, the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said.

Moving ahead today, the important events to watch:

US –Jobless claims: GMT – 12.30

US – Philly FED manufacturing index: GMT – 12:30

Technical Outlook and Review

EURUSD: In the short-term perceptive, the immediate bias will remain bullish as long as prices are held above 1.0800. On the downside, any meaningful pullback now seems to find some support near the 1.0760 zones.

The important levels to watch for today: Support- 1.0800 and 1.0760 Resistance- 1.0890 and 1.0930.

GOLD: The metal needs to stay above 1960; otherwise. 1954 and 1948 may be visible soon. On the upper side, 1976 is the key resistance zones to watch, if the metal breaks and close above this area then the next resistance area to watch is around 1984/88.

The important levels to watch for today: Support- 1960 and 1954 Resistance- 1976 and 1983.

Quote of the day – “Why do you think unsuccessful traders are obsessed with market analysis? They crave the sense of certainty that analysis appears to give them. Although few would admit it, the truth is that the typical trader wants to be right on every single trade. He is desperately trying to create certainty where it just doesn’t exist.” - Mark Douglas.