The Weekly Call for August 9th

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Weekly Call, your trusted source for high-quality commodity setups and trading strategies. Since October 2016, our approach has delivered an impressive 777% return, and we continue to share the insights and methodologies that drive these results with this post #520. This week, we’ll explore the latest market trends, actionable trade setups, and global economic factors influencing commodities like sugar, coffee, live cattle, and gold.

U.S. Markets (Friday, August 7 Close)

S&P 500: Closed at 7,757.64, gaining approximately 0.6% Friday and 3.6% for the week.

Nasdaq Composite: Closed at 26,690.62, rising approximately 1.3% Friday and roughly 5.2% for the week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: Closed at 54,036.93, gaining approximately 0.3% Friday and about 3.0% for the week.

U.S. equities delivered their strongest week in several months and the S&P 500 finished at another record high.

The major catalyst was the surprisingly weak July employment report. Nonfarm payrolls declined by approximately 23,000 jobs, versus expectations for a gain of roughly 80,000. The report significantly reduced expectations that the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates at its September meeting.

Corporate earnings remained another important source of support. Approximately 85% of reporting S&P 500 companies exceeded earnings estimates, while artificial intelligence, software, cloud computing, semiconductor, and data-center infrastructure companies regained leadership.

The market’s near-term narrative changed substantially during the week. Investors moved away from worrying primarily about another Federal Reserve rate increase and toward evaluating whether economic growth is slowing enough to keep monetary policy unchanged.

Global Markets

FTSE 100 (United Kingdom): Closed at approximately 10,901, gaining modestly Friday and recording another positive week.

DAX (Germany): Finished higher for the week as technology, software, financial, and healthcare companies benefited from improving global risk sentiment.

Nikkei 225 (Japan): Closed near 65,210, declining Friday after significant recent gains as semiconductor shares experienced profit-taking.

Shanghai Composite (China): Finished mixed as investors balanced slower inflation, ongoing property-market concerns, and expectations for additional economic stimulus.

European equities generally participated in the global rally, while Asian markets remained more volatile because of currency movements and fluctuations in semiconductor shares.

Lower U.S. interest-rate expectations provided additional support to international equities by reducing pressure from the dollar and global bond yields.

Commodities Snapshot (Friday Close)

Gold: Approximately $4,336/oz, surging more than 2% Friday and more than 7% for the week.

Silver: Approximately $63.29/oz, gaining roughly 3% Friday and extending its recent strong performance.

Copper: Approximately $6.35/lb, remaining historically elevated as electrification, grid upgrades, manufacturing investment, and data-center construction continued supporting demand.

WTI Crude Oil: Settled near $78.18/barrel, rising Friday but declining more than 7% for the week.

Brent Crude Oil: Settled near $83.55/barrel, recovering Friday but still falling approximately 5% for the week.

Natural Gas: Approximately $2.66/MMBtu, completing another weak week as strong U.S. production and adequate inventories outweighed summer electricity demand.

Gold was one of the strongest major assets during the week as the weaker employment report lowered Treasury yields and reduced expectations for additional Federal Reserve tightening.

Oil moved in the opposite direction. Expectations that diplomatic progress could eventually improve shipping through the Strait of Hormuz removed some of the geopolitical premium that had driven prices sharply higher during July.

Cryptocurrency Market (Early Sunday, August 9)

Bitcoin (BTC): Approximately $65,200, recovering above $65,000 and improving its short-term technical position.

Ethereum (ETH): Approximately $1,625, remaining considerably weaker than Bitcoin despite continued institutional interest in Ethereum-based financial infrastructure.

Solana (SOL): Approximately $78, stabilizing after recent weakness but still trading below its July range.

XRP: Approximately $1.06, continuing to consolidate near an important support level.

BNB: Approximately $610, showing better relative strength than most other large-cap altcoins.

Cardano (ADA): Approximately $0.197, recovering modestly but remaining highly dependent on broader altcoin liquidity.

Dogecoin (DOGE): Approximately $0.070, remaining subdued as retail speculation stayed limited.

Bitcoin improved during the week, helped by lower Treasury yields, improving ETF demand, and a more favorable regulatory backdrop. The broader cryptocurrency market, however, remained selective.

The continued divergence between Bitcoin and many altcoins suggests institutional capital is still prioritizing liquidity, regulated access, and established blockchain infrastructure rather than moving aggressively into speculative assets.

Key Market Drivers

• July payrolls unexpectedly declined. The U.S. economy lost approximately 23,000 jobs versus expectations for significant employment growth.
• Federal Reserve expectations changed sharply. The probability of another September rate increase fell materially following the employment report.
• Treasury yields declined. The 10-year Treasury yield moved toward approximately 4.64%, providing significant support to growth and technology stocks.
• Corporate earnings remained strong. Roughly 85% of reporting S&P 500 companies exceeded earnings expectations.
• Artificial intelligence regained leadership. Semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, software, networking, data centers, and AI-related companies rebounded strongly.
• Palantir strengthened the enterprise AI theme. Strong results and improved guidance reinforced expectations for continued corporate spending on artificial intelligence.
• Gold surged on lower-rate expectations. Precious metals benefited significantly as investors reduced expectations for further monetary tightening.
• Crude oil declined sharply. Potential diplomatic progress concerning shipping through the Strait of Hormuz reduced some of the geopolitical supply premium.
• Bitcoin ETF demand improved. Institutional investment products experienced improved flows, helping Bitcoin reclaim $65,000.
• U.S. crypto legislation advanced. Procedural movement surrounding the CLARITY Act increased expectations that Congress could eventually establish a clearer digital-asset regulatory framework.

Emerging Crypto Projects & Ecosystem News

• The CLARITY Act moved forward in the Senate. Lawmakers advanced procedural steps toward another vote after the August recess. The legislation is designed to establish clearer SEC and CFTC responsibilities for digital assets.
• September is becoming an important crypto-policy month. Further Senate action on market-structure legislation could materially improve regulatory certainty for exchanges, institutional investors, custody providers, and blockchain developers.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF flows improved. Combined institutional investment-product inflows strengthened during the week, indicating renewed demand after weaker activity earlier in the summer.
• BlackRock continued expanding tokenized financial products. Tokenized cash management and money-market instruments remain among the most practical institutional blockchain applications.
• Tokenized U.S. stocks continued expanding. Platforms including Dinari are developing blockchain-based representations of public equities that can potentially offer longer trading hours, faster settlement, and fractional ownership.
• Chainlink remained central to institutional tokenization. Cross-chain messaging, pricing information, proof-of-reserves, and interoperability are becoming increasingly important as financial institutions connect blockchain networks.
• JPMorgan and other financial institutions continued testing blockchain settlement. Delivery-versus-payment transactions and tokenized deposits demonstrate how traditional banking infrastructure could interact with blockchain-based assets.
• Stablecoin infrastructure continued expanding. Banks, payment companies, exchanges, and asset managers are developing payment, custody, treasury-management, settlement, and reserve-management services around regulated digital dollars.
• Real-world asset tokenization remained one of the strongest blockchain themes. Treasury securities, private credit, money-market funds, commodities, equities, and other financial assets continue migrating toward blockchain settlement.

The strongest digital-asset themes remain institutional tokenization, stablecoins, regulated investment products, custody, interoperability, and settlement infrastructure rather than speculative token issuance.

Outlook for the Week Ahead

• Inflation: July CPI will be the most important macroeconomic release. A softer reading would reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve can remain on hold.
• Producer Prices: PPI will provide another indication of whether higher energy and input costs are feeding into inflation.
• Retail Sales: Consumer spending data will help determine whether weaker employment represents an isolated report or the beginning of broader economic slowing.
• Federal Reserve: Markets will continue recalculating September policy expectations as inflation and employment data arrive.
• Corporate Earnings: Cisco, Applied Materials, CoreWeave, Nebius, and other technology and AI infrastructure companies will report.
• Artificial Intelligence: Investors will continue focusing on companies demonstrating measurable revenue and cash-flow returns from AI investments.
• Energy Markets: Negotiations concerning shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remain an important potential catalyst for oil.
• Cryptocurrency: ETF flows, Bitcoin technical resistance, stablecoin adoption, and September congressional activity will remain central to the outlook.

Key Levels to Watch

S&P 500: Support 7,650–7,700 | Resistance 7,800–7,850

Nasdaq Composite: Support 26,200–26,400 | Resistance 27,000

Bitcoin: Support $63,500–$64,000 | Resistance $66,000–$68,000

Ethereum: Support $1,575–$1,600 | Resistance $1,700–$1,750

Solana: Support $74–$76 | Resistance $82–$85

Gold: Support $4,200 | Resistance $4,400–$4,450

WTI Crude Oil: Support $75–$77 | Resistance $82–$84

As always, stay informed and adjust your strategies based on the evolving market conditions. All trades are posted on our Private Twitter Feed for subscribers and are included in the track record posted below under Completed Trades. I am currently trading 15 lots given the account balance and will adjust as necessary based on market developments.

Trading futures contracts and commodity options involves substantial risk of loss, and may not be appropriate for all investors. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please see our Disclaimer for more information.

The trades below are discussed on the Daily Update: – Click Here for a FREE Trial

Sugar

Coffee

Live Cattle

Gold (GC)

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COMPLETED TRADES

Track Record of Completed Trades

The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate how to swing trade futures using our methodology to select high-quality setups and manage the trade with our risk management approach. This track record is based on entries and exits as posted in this blog. I am currently using 15 lots for the Striker trades which is based on this account being over $375,000. Each lot for auto trading at Striker requires $25,000 per lot. See the videos below for more information.

Track Record January 2022 thru December 2022 Click Here.

Track Record January 2021 thru December 2021 Click Here.

Track Record January 2020 thru December 2020 Click Here.

Track Record January 2019 thru December 2019 Click Here.

Track Record January 2018 thru December 2018 Click Here.

Track Record October 2016 – December 2017 Click Here.

*** Trading futures contracts and futures options involves substantial risk of loss, and may not be appropriate for all investors. By reading this web site, you acknowledge and accept that all trading decisions are your sole responsibility. Trading strategies referenced on this web site and associated documents and emails are only suggestions, no representation is being made that they will achieve profits or losses. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.. See our disclaimer here.

Completed trade in Cattle as of November 28th

We expect subscribers to have captured 60% of the swing in live cattle which is over $14,500 in profit using a margin of only $5,115. A great example of using leverage in futures.

Completed Trade in Coffee as of December 12th

The total swing was $37.00 and we expect subscribers to have captured 60% of a wing or $22 in coffee for a profit of over $25,500 using a margin of $8,850. A great example of using leverage in futures. See the video below for the review of the trade.

Completed Trade in Natural Gas as of January 2nd

We were stopped out of out last 1/3 position as weather-related news created a gap down on January 2nd and a possible flat with support at 3.196. This concludes our trade with natural gas; we exit with 550 ticks on 2/3s of a position with $8,500 in profit.

Completed Trade in Coffee as of January 19th

We exited the coffee trade on January 19th with $17 or over $15,000 in profit using a margin of $8,850. A great example of using leverage in futures.

Completed Trade in Gold as of February 8th

We exited the gold trade on February 8th with over $14,000 in profit. We entered on January 3rd and held the trade into the high window. We will re-enter gold in a few weeks after a backtest.