By IFCMarkets
US stock indices ended little changed on Monday in thin trading with insurance companies stocks slipping as investors assessed the damage from Hurricane Harvey. amid renewed geopolitical tensions around North Korea as the US and South Korea started annual military exercises after the standoff between US and North Korea following Kim Jong Un’s threats to fire a missile near Guam waters more than a week ago. The dollar weakened: 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, fell 0.4% to 92.188. S&P 500 closed up less than 0.1% settling at 2444.24, with six of its 11 main sectors closing higher led by health care stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped less than 0.1% to 21808.40, led by Travelers and Goldman Sachs shares. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.3% closing at 6283.02 as technology and biotech stocks advanced.
Treasury yields declined with dollar continuing the slide after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen did not mention monetary policy at a central bankers’ symposium in Jackson Hole Friday. There were no major events to drive markets as health care shares advanced on merger deals. Economic data were not supportive of dollar strength: trade deficit widened by 1.8% to $65.1 billion in July as exports fell more than imports. And preliminary US wholesale inventories for July came in at expected 0.4%.
European stocks retreated on Monday as euro hit the highest against the dollar in more than two years. Both the euro and British Pound added to their gains against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.5% following 0.1% loss Friday. The DAX 30 lost 0.4% to 12123.47. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.5%. Trading was closed on UK’s FTSE 100 for the August Bank Holiday. Indices opened 0.7%-0.8% lower today.
Euro strength endured after bullish expectations for the shared currency were boosted as European Central Bank president Draghi didn’t talk down euro in his Friday speech at Jackson Hole. Draghi was optimistic about the euro-zone economic recovery. The stronger euro hurts exporters earnings prospects as it makes their products less competitive in overseas markets. Shares of auto makers BMW and Daimler both fell by about 0.2%.
Asian stock indices are mostly lower as tensions surrounding Korean peninsula flared after North Korea fired a missile over Japan today with the United States and South Korea annual joint military exercises underway. Nikkei fell 0.5% to 19363.55 as yen advanced against the dollar on higher haven demand. Chinese stocks are down: both the Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang SengIndex are down 0.1%. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index is off 0.7% on stronger Australian dollar against the greenback and slide in bank stocks.
Oil futures prices are inching lower today as tropical storm Harvey caused outages of US refineries in Texas , which accounts for 5.7 million barrels per day refining capacity out of 18.6 million bpd total domestic capacity. Prices fell on Monday with lower refining capacity available due to storm shutdowns in Texas area raising concerns of US crude supply overbuild. October Brent crude lost 1% settling at $51.89 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange on Monday.
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