Market Wrap: Stocks, Bonds, Commodities
Technology stocks pulled Wall Street’s main indexes lower on Monday, as signs of inflationary pressures building up in the economy kept investors worried about monetary policy tightening.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 158.20 points (0.46%) at 34,223.93, the S&P 500 was down 19.61 points (0.47%) at 4,154.24, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 93.00 points (0.69%) at 13,336.98.
Japan’s economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter as a slow vaccine rollout and new COVID-19 infections hit spending on items such as dining out and clothes, raising concerns the country will lag others emerging from the pandemic.
MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan advance 1.78% to 864.40 levels. Australian index rose 0.13% to 7,023.60. Japanese Nikkei traded 0.92% lower to 27,824.32.
European stocks were advance on Tuesday, with the Stoxx Europe 50 Index gained 0.53% to 4,028.18, Germany’s DAX rose 0.41% to 15,459.50 and France’s CAC higher 0.35% to 6,389.79, and U.K.’s FTSE 100 advance 0.49% to 7,068.15.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose as demand for safe assets grows again, today 10-year bond yields advance 0.54% to 1.649.
Oil prices climbed on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous day, as optimism over the reopenings of the U.S. and European economies outweighed fears of slower fuel demand in Asia due to surging COVID-19 cases and a new wave of restrictions.
Spot Brent crude oil gained 0.85% to $70.20 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude higher 0.80% to $66.81 a barrel.
The yellow metal traded higher 0.07% to 1868.20 dollars per ounce.
Market Wrap: Forex
The dollar plumbed a six-year trough against the Canadian dollar and teetered near multi-month lows versus European currencies on Tuesday, as Treasury yields stalled amid renewed expectations the United States will not hike interest rates anytime soon.
Today, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.39% to 89.787.
The Euro US Dollar (EUR/USD) is a widely traded pair that gained 0.52% today. This left the pairing trading around $1.21140.
The Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday as the stock pushes lower. Today US/JPY down 0.22% to 108.930 level.
Another commodity-related currency higher against the U.S dollar, AUD/USD up 0.52% to 0.78020 and NZD/USD rose 0.69% to 0.72480.