Global Stocks Waver After Retail Sales Decline
22 Maggio 2019 - 12:26PM
Dow Jones News
By Nathan Allen
Global stocks posted gentle gains on Wednesday despite
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 up 0.2% in morning trade, with the
U.K's FTSE 100 up 0.6% and Germany's DAX up 0.4%.
In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Korea's Kospi both gained
0.2%, Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.1% and China's Shanghai Stock
Exchange dropped 0.5%.
London-listed retailer Marks & Spencer Group was the biggest
loser on the FTSE 100, falling 5% after posting a sharp drop in
annual pretax profit and 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 most recent quarter as they brace
for higher tariffs on Chinese imports.
On Wall Street, futures pointed to flat opens for both the
S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. U.S. indexes
closed higher Tuesday, lifted by technology stocks after the White
House granted temporary exemptions to an export blacklist against
Huawei Technologies.
U.K. core inflation accelerated to a 2.1% annual rate in April,
moving ahead of the Bank of England's 2% target, putting pressure
on the central bank to nudge up interest rates.
Analysts at ING said the BOE is likely to keep rates on hold for
now, as the overall economic picture still looks fairly benign,
though they didn't rule out the possibility of some tightening in
November.
Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May made a fourth push to
gain parliamentary support for her Brexit deal on Tuesday,
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 currency
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 flat.
The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys edged down to 2.425% from
2.428% on Tuesday. Yields move inversely to prices. German 10-year
government bonds were in negative territory at -0.065%.
In commodities, global benchmark Brent crude oil was down 0.9%
at $71.55 a barrel.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 22, 2019 06:11 ET (10:11 GMT)
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