FYI: Global stocks recovered some of their poise Friday morning after a big move away from riskier assets and into the safety of government bonds on Thursday saw Treasury yields hit their lowest levels since late 2017.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.7%, with Germany’s DAX up 0.8%, partially recovering from a near 2% drop Thursday when it was weighed down in part by Deutsche Bank , which slipped 2.4% to close at an all-time low.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.3% and China’s Shanghai A-shares were flat, while the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2%.
In the U.S., futures markets pointed to an opening rise of 0.6% for the S&P 500 and 0.5% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
In currency markets, the dollar softened, with the WSJ Dollar Index down 0.06%, while the British pound rose to $1.268 after a week of declines as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May announced Friday she would resign in two weeks to allow a new leader to try to break log-jammed efforts to agree a way to leave the European Union.
Investors have been growing more wary about the effects of the U.S.-China trade standoff on the U.S. and other economies. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Thursday warned that tariffs imposed on Chinese imports were costing the average household $813 each a year.
The S&P 500 is down more than 4% so far in May, while the Stoxx Europe 600 is down 4.5%, although the U.S. index is still up nearly 13% for the year and the European market nearly 11%.
Worries about the economic impact hit oil prices hard Thursday, with Brent crude prices dropping more than 4.5% for their biggest one-day fall since Christmas eve 2018. Brent partly recovered Friday morning, rising nearly 1% to $68.58.
Government bond prices slipped and yields rose slightly Friday, rowing back on the trend of investors’ growing preference for safety that has pushed yields generally lower all year. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were back up to 2.316% from 2.296% on Thursday, which was their lowest level since early December 2017.
In Europe, German 10-year bund yields were flat at minus-0.117%, their lowest levels since October 2016.
Gold was down 0.33% at $1,281.10 per ounce.
Regards,
Ted
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-rise-on-signs-trump-administration-could-soften-huawei-stance-2019-05-24/printWSJ:
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/asia-stocks-to-drop-amid-escalating-trade-tension-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-china-trade-war-stock-market-rally-boeing-737-max-autodesk-splunk/Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/global-stocks-climb-on-muted-trade-hopes-sterling-yo-yos-as-pm-may-quits-idUSKCN1SU035CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/24/stock-market-slight-rebound-after-trade-fears-roil-markets.htmlU.K.:
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/european-shares-recover-after-trump-signal-on-trade-war-idUSKCN1SU0M3Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-mixed-amid-lingering-trade-war-worries-2019-05-23/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/24/us-bonds-in-focus-on-wall-street-amid-ongoing-trade-war-worries.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/24/forex-market-us-china-trade-war-us-treasury-yields-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/24/oil-market-middle-east-tensions-opec-supply-cuts-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/24/gold-market-dollar-moves-us-china-trade-war-in-focus.htmlCuirrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx
