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S&P 500 rally continues despite flat retail sales
The S&P 500 rallied for the second consecutive session on Friday despite data showing that retail sales in the U.S. had remained flat.
Figures released today showed that retail sales in the United States had unexpectedly stalled last month, after rising in March.
In its latest report, the Commerce Department confirmed that sales remained unchanged in April, after rising by 10.7% in March, which was a 1% upward revision on the initial number.
Many believe that sales have slowed as the financial boost provided by President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion stimulus package faded.
Despite this, both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 were trading up 2.09% and 1.44%, respectively as of writing.
Elon Musk helps sends Dogecoin higher
Elon Musk’s influence on the cryptocurrency market continued Friday, as tweets from the Tesla founder contributed to Dogecoin’s latest rally.
A day after confirming that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a payment method, Musk commented that he was willing to work with Dogecoin developers.
He tweeted, “Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising”.
This resulted in prices of Doge climbing by as much as 36% today. Just as Coinbase confirmed that it was planning on listing the once “meme” coin on its platform.
Oil prices rise despite India’s COVID-19 crisis
After taking a hit in yesterday’s session. Oil prices rebounded on Friday despite tensions in the middle-east worsening, as well as a rise in Indian COVID-19 cases.
The market seems to have muted the current uncertainty in Israel. Which recently unsettled energy markets, due to on-going escalations with Palestine.
This came as India recorded 343,144 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24-hours. Leading to over 4,000 deaths in the process.
Despite this, Crude oil prices rose to an intraday high of $65.23 in today’s session after trading at a low of $63.07 on Thursday.
Quote of the day – “You can be free. You can live and work anywhere in the world. You can be independent from routine and not answer to anybody.”
– Alexander Elder