DOW JONES INDEX OUTLOOK:
Dow Jones Industrial Average index (Dow) futures climbed during early Asia hours after registering a small gain on Thursday. The US weekly jobless claim number came in at 870k, in line with expectations. This marked a fourth consecutive weekly reading below 1 million mark, but the rate of improvement in the jobs market appears to have slowed recently. Next Friday’s non-farm payroll reading will be closely monitored by market participants for more clues.

Asia-Pacific markets may enjoy a relief rebound on Friday, following positive leads from the US session. Traders face a relatively quiet calendar day, with the US durable goods order among top market events. Read more on our economic calendar website.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) has retraced to 94.38 from 94.65 this morning, alleviating pressure over precious metal and crude oil prices. The VIX volatility index has fallen back to around 32.4 as stocks rebounded. This, however, seems to be a temporary relief as concerns remain on a stalling US fiscal stimulus package, and climbing coronavirus cases in Europe.

Overnight trading displayed a fairly balancedsectoral pattern, with financials (+1.89%), consumer staples (+0.5%) and information technology (+0.48%) outperforming, whereas materials (-0.71%), industrials (-0.57%) and consumer discretionary (-0.34%) lagging.

Technically,the Dow has rebounded from the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level at 26,600, which may serve as an immediate support. The 20-Day Simple Moving Average (SMA) line is about to cross below the 50-Day SMA, potentially forming a “Death Cross”. The MACD momentum indicator remains in bearish setup, which suggests that there might be more consolidation ahead. 

ASX 200 INDEX OUTLOOK:
Australia’s ASX 200 index opened 0.8% higher, attempting to challenge the upper ceiling of the “Descending Channel”. The short-term trend of the ASX 200 index appears biased towards the downside, as its 50-Day DMA has likely crossed below the 100-Day, potentially forming a bearish crossover. An immediate support level can be found at 5,780 – the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement.

Reference by: Margaret Yang, Strategist for DailyFX.com