Dow Retreats Eighth Session In A Row
US stocks closed lower on Monday after President Donald Trump withdrew his proposed health-care law designed to replace Obamacare. 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 0.5% to 99.212. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.2% lower at 20550.98, led by Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) shares. The blue chip index fell for an eighth session, its longest losing streak since August 2011. S&P 500 slipped 0.1% to 2341.59 with telecom and financial stocks leading the decliners while health care and materials stocks recorded biggest gains. The Nasdaq composite closed 0.2% higher at 5840.37.
European Stocks Fall On Trump Agenda Doubts
European stocks closed lower on Monday as President Trump’s decision to call back his health care law spurred further concerns he will not be able to deliver on his promises of stimulus measures such as corporate tax cuts. The euro and British Pound rose against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4%. The DAX 30 lost 0.6% to close at 11996.07. France’s CAC 40 ended 0.1% lower and UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6% settling at 7293.50.
Asian Markets Mixed
Asian stock indices are mixed today after a global selloff following President Trump’s decision to pull the health-care law from Congress vote late Friday. Nikkei ended 1.1% higher at 19202.87 with yen little changed against the dollar as investors bought high-yield stocks before they went ex-dividend. Chinese stocks are retreating third session in a row on tighter liquidity concerns after the central bank refrained from injecting short-term funds into the banking system: the Shanghai Composite Index is 0.4% lower while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 0.6%. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index ended closed 1.2% higher with the Australian dollar extending losses against the dollar.
Oil Prices Edge Up
Oil futures prices are recovering today but concerns about rising US shale oil output limit the gains as the number of active US oil rigs keeps rising. Prices fell on Monday after a Sunday statement by representatives of Kuwait, Algeria, Venezuela and non-OPEC nations Russia and Oman following a meeting to review the current levels of output cutback compliance stopped short of calling to extend cuts another six months. The compliance committee will meet again in late April to recommend to the cartel whether cuts need to be extended another six months. Later today the American Petroleum Institute industry group will report its estimate of the US crude stockpile for the last week. May Brent crude lost 0.1% to $50.75 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange on Monday.