May 16 financial breakfast: gold prices hovering low, suppressed by the strong dollar; Russia-Ukraine situation worries rise, oil prices high to set a new high of nearly one and a half months

Monday (May 16) early Asian market, spot gold hovered low, currently trading near the 1810 mark, suppressed by the Fed's aggressive rate hike prospects and the strong dollar, gold prices on Friday once lost the 1800 mark; dollar index narrowly oscillated around 104.5, slightly lower than the nearly 20-year high of 105.02 set last Friday, the short term dollar index is seriously overbought, need to beware of short term Pullback risk; U.S. crude oil opened slightly higher, once rose nearly 1%, refreshing nearly a month and a half high to 111.57, Russia and Ukraine situation worries rise, to provide oil prices with upward momentum.

Commodity closing, on Friday, WTI June crude oil futures closed up $4.36, or 4.11%, at $110.49/barrel; Brent July crude oil futures closed up $4.1, or 3.82%, at $111.55/barrel. COMEX June gold futures closed down 0.9%, at $1808.20/oz.

U.S. stocks closed, on Friday, the S&P 500 index rose 2.4%, at 4023.89 points; Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.5%, at 32,196.66 points; Nasdaq Composite Index rose 3.8%, at 11,805 points; Nasdaq 100 index rose 3.7%, at 12,387.4 points; Russell 2000 index rose 3.1%, at 1792.666 points.

Monday Outlook

International News

Ukrainian troops destroy Russian armored vehicles trying to cross river, Russian battle focus shifts to Donbass]

Ukrainian troops destroyed part of a convoy of Russian armored vehicles trying to cross the river in the Donbas region, according to a video released by the Ukrainian military on Friday. Moscow appears to be refocusing its attacks on the east after a new round of counterattacks by Ukrainian forces.

② Ukraine has pushed Russian troops out of Kharkov, the second-largest city, in the fastest advance since Russian forces withdrew from Kiev and the northeast more than a month ago, although Moscow is still bombing villages north of Kharkov.

③ The once heavily bombarded city has been quiet for at least two weeks, and journalists have confirmed that Ukraine now controls territory stretching about 40 kilometers (25 miles) eastward to the Sivdidonets River.