Dollar slips as home sales decline
US stock market snapped 4-session winning streak on negative implications of slower China’s growth data to global growth outlook. The S&P 500 fell 1.4% to 2632.90. Dow Jones lost 1.2% to 24404.48. The Nasdaq dropped 1.9% to 7020.36. The dollar weakening continued as data showed existing home sales declined in December. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, slipped 0.01% to 96.287 but is higher currently. Futures on three main US stock indices point to mixed openings.
FTSE 100 underperforms other European indexes
European stocks extended losses on Tuesday on persisting global growth worries after China reported slower growth for 2018. The EUR/USD turned lower while GBP/USD rose with both pairs higher currently. The Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.4%. The German DAX 30 fell 0.4% to 11090.11, France’s CAC 40 slid 0.4% and UK’s FTSE 100dropped 1.0% to 6901.39.
Chinese stocks rise while Asian indices slip
Asian stock indices are mixed today after President Xi Jinping told high-level Communist Party officials to be alert over “black swan” and “gray rhino” financial events in face of an economic slowdown at a meeting after China posted its slowest annual growth since 1990 - 6.6%. Nikkei slipped 0.1% to 20593.72 while yen resumed its slide against the dollar as Japan reported weak export data. Chinese stocks are higher supported by Beijing pledge to step up fiscal spending this year to support its economy: the Shanghai Composite Index is up 0.1%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is 0.1% higher. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index extended losses 0.3% as the Australian dollar resumed climbing against the greenback.
Brent up
Brent futures prices are recovering today. Prices ended lower yesterday: March Brent fell 2% to $61.50 a barrel on Tuesday.
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EUR/USD treads water just above 1.0400 post-US data
Another sign of the good health of the US economy came in response to firm flash US Manufacturing and Services PMIs, which in turn reinforced further the already strong performance of the US Dollar, relegating EUR/USD to the 1.0400 neighbourhood on Friday.
GBP/USD remains depressed near 1.2520 on stronger Dollar
Poor results from the UK docket kept the British pound on the back foot on Thursday, hovering around the low-1.2500s in a context of generalized weakness in the risk-linked galaxy vs. another outstanding day in the Greenback.
Gold keeps the bid bias unchanged near $2,700
Persistent safe haven demand continues to prop up the march north in Gold prices so far on Friday, hitting new two-week tops past the key $2,700 mark per troy ounce despite extra strength in the Greenback and mixed US yields.
Geopolitics back on the radar
Rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine caused renewed unease in the markets this week. Putin signed an amendment to Russian nuclear doctrine, which allows Russia to use nuclear weapons for retaliating against strikes carried out with conventional weapons.
Eurozone PMI sounds the alarm about growth once more
The composite PMI dropped from 50 to 48.1, once more stressing growth concerns for the eurozone. Hard data has actually come in better than expected recently – so ahead of the December meeting, the ECB has to figure out whether this is the PMI crying wolf or whether it should take this signal seriously. We think it’s the latter.
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