Stocks pullback continues
US major stock indices inched lower on Tuesday as tax cuts delay concerns undermined market sentiment. The dollar weakened on euro rally: 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 0.7% to 93.81. The S&P 500 lost 0.2% to 278.87 led by energy and materials stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose slipped 0.1% to 23409. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.3% to 6737.87.
Surprise acceleration in German growth boosts euro
European stocks fell the sixth session in a row on Tuesday on stronger euro and weak Chinese data. Both the euro and British pound rose against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6% on above 1% jump in euro. German DAX 30 lost 0.3% closing at 13033.48. France’s CAC 40 closed 0.5% lower and UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 7414.42. Markets opened 0.1%-0.2% higher today.
Nikkei leads Asian indices lower
Asian stock indices are down today tracking Wall Street losses overnight. Nikkei lost 1.6% to 22028.32 as yen strengthening accelerated against the dollar. Market reaction was muted to the report Japan’s GDP rose 0.3% over quarter during the July-September period, the seventh straight quarter. Chinese stocks are down: both the Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index are 0.7% lower. Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries lost 0.6% despite resumed weakness in the Australian dollar against the greenback as the 0.5% growth in wages in Q3 was lower than expected.
Oil lower on global demand downgrade
Oil futures prices are steady today after big drop Tuesday. Prices fell yesterday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its global crude oil demand forecasts and warned about rising US shale oil output. The IEA on Tuesday cut its oil demand growth forecast by 100 thousand barrels per day (bpd) for this year and next, to an estimated 1.5 million bpd in 2017. January Brent fell 1.5% to $62.21 a barrel on Tuesday. The American Petroleum Institute industry group said late Tuesday US crude stocks rose by 6.5 million barrels last week. Today at 16:30 CET the Energy Information Administration will release US Crude Oil Inventories.