【TOP1 Morning】Gold may become more explosive this week; Crude oil is expected to break through US$50/barrel; US stocks hit new highs; Euro and Swiss franc recorded the biggest gains in a week

Gold: In the Asian market in early trading, spot gold remained basically stable, and is now quoted at around $1837 per ounce.

Analysis pointed out that last Friday the price of gold hovered around US$1838.10 per ounce, which will benefit the trend of gold prices. Maintaining the price of gold above US$1818.00 per ounce is very important for continued bullish expectations. It is expected that US$1820.00/ounce and US$1870.00/ounce will constitute short-term support and resistance to gold prices respectively.

Spot silver once fell below the $22 mark on Monday, but started a skyrocketing mode on Tuesday, which rose more than 6% that day, and then hit a high of $24.30 on Wednesday and entered a state of sideways consolidation. On Friday, spot silver closed at US$24.18 per ounce, up US$1.53 or 6.75% this week.

Forex: The U.S. dollar rose from a two-and-a-half-year low on Friday as European Union and British negotiators suspended negotiations on a post-Brexit trade agreement, which put pressure on the pound, but the U.S. dollar still recorded its worst weekly performance in a month. They were not affected by the weaker than expected US employment report.

In late New York trading, the U.S. dollar index rebounded from its lowest level since April 2018 by 0.1% to 90.725. The index fell 1.3% this week, marking its biggest weekly decline since early November.

The euro and the Swiss franc recorded their biggest weekly gains in a month against the US dollar this week. The euro hit a two-and-a-half-year high, and the Swiss franc rose to its highest level in nearly six years.

The euro is one of the biggest winners of the recent weakening of the dollar, breaking through $1.20 this Monday. The euro rose to 1.2177 U.S. dollars against the U.S. dollar, the highest since April 2018, and fell 0.2% in late trading to $1.2118.

The U.S. dollar rebounded against the Swiss franc, rising slightly to 0.8910 Swiss francs, and earlier fell to a six-year low of 0.8886 Swiss francs. The dollar fell 0.06% in late trading to 0.8903.

The dollar rose 0.3% against the yen to 104.15 yen. The pound fell 0.2% against the US dollar to 1.3423 US dollars after the UK and the European Union's post-Brexit trade agreement negotiations were hindered before the weekend.

Bitcoin against the US dollar BTB=BTSP fell back to US$18,906.54 late Friday, and failed to break the US$20,000 mark for the first time earlier this week.

Crude oil: Oil prices are rising but hovering below US$50 per barrel, expecting the US to launch a stimulus plan. Brent crude oil futures prices rose by more than 1% on Friday, still slightly below US$50 a barrel, as expectations for the US economic stimulus plan and coronavirus vaccine overwhelmed the impact of increased supply and rising deaths from the new crown.

The US$908 billion coronavirus aid program jointly proposed by the two parties has gained increasing support in the US Congress.

The settlement price of Brent crude oil futures rose 54 cents to 49.25 US dollars per barrel, an increase of 1.11%, and hit the highest level since early March at 49.92 US dollars. US crude oil futures rose 62 cents to 46.26 US dollars per barrel, having earlier hit a high of 46.68 US dollars per barrel.

The two major indicators of crude oil contracts both rose for the fifth consecutive week. Brent crude oil prices rose 1.7%, and US crude oil prices rose 1.9%.

Stock market: The major U.S. stock market indexes rose to record highs on Friday as data showed that U.S. job growth was the slowest in six months, raising investor expectations for the introduction of a new fiscal bailout bill to help revive the economy hit by the new crown virus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 248.74 points, or 0.83%, to 30,218.26; the S&P 500 Index .SPX rose 32.40 points, or 0.88%, to 3,699.12; the Nasdaq Index .IXIC rose 87.05 points, or 0.7%, To 12,464.23 points.

The so-called "cyclical" stocks that are considered to be particularly sensitive to the economy, such as energy stocks .SPNY, materials stocks and industrial stocks, performed well, with most S&P 500 stocks rising.

According to a closely watched employment report released by the US Department of Labor, non-agricultural jobs increased by 245,000 in November, which was lower than the 469,000 estimated by analysts, the smallest increase since the start of the employment recovery in May.