Global Stocks Waver After Retail Sales Decline
22 Maggio 2019 - 10:39AM
Dow Jones News
By Nathan Allen
Global stocks paused on Wednesday after disappointing sales data
from U.S. retailers on Tuesday and as trade tensions between the
U.S. and China continued to overhang market activity.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was nearly unchanged in early trade, with
the U.K's FTSE 100 up 0.4% and Germany's DAX flat at the open.
Asian indexes were mixed, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng and
Korea's Kospi both trading 0.2% higher while China's Shanghai Stock
Exchange dropped 0.6%.
London-listed retailer Marks & Spencer Group was the biggest
loser on the FTSE 100, falling 5% after launching a heavily
discounted rights issue to finance its joint venture with Ocado
Group. It was the latest disappointment from the retail sector,
after U.S. retailers reported slower sales during the latest
quarter as they brace for higher tariffs on Chinese imports.
On Wall Street, futures pointed to opening losses of 0.1% for
the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and 0.3% for
the Nasdaq-100. U.S. indexes closed higher Tuesday, lifted by
technology stocks after the White House granted temporary
exemptions to an export blacklist against Huawei Technologies.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday made a
fourth push to gain parliamentary support for her Brexit deal,
proposing several concessions, including a second referendum on
Britain leaving the EU.
The British pound rallied immediately after her comments but
quickly returned to lower levels. Before her address the pound had
hit a four-month low against the dollar as fears of a so-called
hard Brexit returned.
Traders have been struggling to gauge the underlying direction
of markets, which have become increasingly volatile as tensions
between the U.S. and China have flared up in recent weeks.
"The longer the paralysis lasts the more extreme the swings are
going to be," Philippe Gijsels, chief strategy officer at BNP
Paribas Fortis said.
Investors will be watching for any policy signals from European
Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who is scheduled to speak in
Frankfurt this morning. U.K. inflation numbers are also due later
in the day.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket
of 16 currencies, was up 0.1%.
The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys edged down to 2.420% from
2.428% on Tuesday. Yields move inversely to prices. German 10-year
government bonds were in negative territory at -0.077%.
In commodities, global benchmark Brent crude oil was down 0.7%
at $71.71 a barrel.
Write to Nathan Allen at nathan.allen@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 22, 2019 04:24 ET (08:24 GMT)
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