S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq end lower
US stocks closed lower on Monday in thin trading. The dollar continued weakening: 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 0.1% to 93.709. S&P 500 closed 0.2% lower settling at 2544.70 led by health care, industrial and financial stocks. Six out of 11 main sectors ended lower. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.1% to 22761.07 weighed by 3.9% drop in GE shares. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.2% to 6579.73, snapping nine session winning streak.
European stocks rebound
European stocks rebounded on Monday as market sentiment was boosted by surprisingly good German industrial production data and easing of Spanish political unrest concerns. Both the euro and British Pound rose against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2%. The DAX 30 ended 0.2% higher at 12976.40. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1%. UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7507.89. Indices opened mixed today.
Asian markets advance
Asian stock indices are higher today shrugging off the slide on Wall Street overnight. Nikkei closed 0.6% higher at 20823.51 as markets opened after national holiday Monday with yen little changed against the dollar. Chinese stocks are up as China’s Statistics Bureau said the country will have no problem meeting its economic growth target of around 6.5% this year, and may even beat it. Shanghai Composite Index is 0.1% higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 0.6%. Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries is up less than 0.1% despite a rebound in Australian dollar against the greenback.
Oil edges higher
Oil futures prices are inching higher today as OPEC said there were clear signs the market was rebalancing and US Gulf coast production was offline following Hurricane Nate. Prices rose Monday after OPEC’s secretary-general said “some extraordinary measures may have to be taken” to sustain the market’s rebalancing process into next year. The remark was interpreted implying extending output cuts agreed by OPEC and other oil producers. December Brent crude rose 0.3% settling at $55.79 a barrel on ICE Futures exchange in London on Monday.