S&P 500 slips to support, while EUR/GBP, silver price range trade 

Macro update

Oil charges towards $100: Brent crude climbed for a fourth consecutive session, gaining 1.4% to above $99 a barrel and reaching its highest level since late June, as Houthi strikes on Saudi cities and US attacks on Iranian oil tankers heightened supply disruption fears amid the six-month conflict.

Software stocks slide on AI fears: Salesforce and Intuit fell around 4% and ServiceNow dropped 5% on Wall Street as OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra reignited concerns that AI could threaten specialist software providers, dragging the S&P 500 down 0.58%.

Yen holds near seven-month high: The Japanese currency strengthened to around ¥153.65 per dollar, close to Tuesday’s ¥152.89 peak, after surging 4% over five sessions on expectations of faster BOJ rate increases and a potential repatriation of Japanese capital.

Nikkei shrugs off Middle East tensions: Tokyo’s benchmark rose 0.43% to 65,549.88 as renewed AI optimism lifted chip and cable stocks, with Furukawa Electric jumping 13% after Verizon and Corning agreed a deal on high-density optical fibre for AI infrastructure.

Gold firms as dollar weakens: Spot gold gained 0.6% to $4,381 an ounce, supported by a softer dollar and heightened Middle East tensions, although traders remained cautious ahead of Friday’s US inflation data, with markets pricing a 60% chance of a Fed hike next week.

Chipmakers buck software sell-off: Intel jumped 9% and Qualcomm gained 3.2% after agreeing a deal with Amazon to develop custom AI chips, while the Philadelphia semiconductor index rose 1.3% despite declines across Wall Street’s major benchmarks.

S&P 500 weighs on uptrend line

The S&P 500 is about to test its March-to-September uptrend line at 7,658 with the 24 August low and June peak at 7,638-to-7,621 also offering support. Further down lies the early September low at 7,611 which remains key for the medium-term uptrend line.

For another up leg to be seen, the current September high at 7,757 and late August high at 7,771 would need to be overcome.

Failure at last week's 7,611 low would likely lead to a slide to the mid-June-to-mid-July highs at 7,581-to-7,578 taking place.

Short-term outlook: neutral with a short-term bearish undertone while below the 28 August high at 7,771 but above the 1 September 7,611 low

Medium-term outlook: neutral with a bullish bias while above the 9 June low at 7,238

S&P500 daily candlestick chart

EUR/GBP range trades below key resistance zone

EUR/GBP has come off its two-month high at £0.8608, slightly below the key resistance area which lies between the February-to-23 June lows at £0.8612-to-£0.8621. This is expected to cap the upside over the days to come, were it to be revisited.

Minor support between the 5-to-20 August highs at £0.8585-to-£0.8582 is currently being tested with further support sitting at Tuesday's £0.8571 low.

Short-term outlook: bullish while above the 8 September low at £0.8571

Medium-term outlook: bullish while trading above the 12 August low at £0.8532

EUR/GBP daily candlestick chart

Silver sideways trades

The price of Silver - having been rejected by its $70.8656-to-$71.7920 resistance area in late August - found support at the top of the $63.2870-to-$60.9365 support zone. It consists of the mid-June and mid-August lows and the 6 and 22 July highs.

Further range trading above last week's low at $63.3093 is expected to be seen with the 3 September high at $67.4710 representing initial resistance and the 4 September low at $64.7445 support.

Short-term outlook: neutral with a bullish undertone while above the 4 September low at $64.7445

Medium-term outlook: bullish while above the 22 July high at $60.9365

Silver daily candlestick chart