Market moving news daily roundup – events & news likely to move markets 15th August 2019
Company performance, economic and political events but especially market sentiment will always influence market movement, good or bad.
Summary
Market moving news roundup, 15th August 2019
Bond yields
Yesterday investors took fright at the inversion of bond yields, an indicator of a potential recession. However, over night the Hang Seng remained flat and the Nikkei index recovered earlier loses to close down around 1.2% – compared to the DJIA 800 point drop of around 3%.
Slowdown or recession?
Is the global economy heading for a slowdown or worse, a recessionary period? Markets love certainty and yesterday a whole load of ‘uncertainty’ was plopped into the mix, and the blender was turned on!
From bond yield inversion, Trump’s tariffs, Germany’s disappointing GDP, UK economy shrinking, Brexit, India and Pakistan territory dispute, Hong Kong protests, and then there is the China – U.S. trade war and so on. And, historically August is a bad month for the stock market anyway – smaller volumes traded during the holiday period can amplify stock movements. Happy times!
Markets stir
Bond yield inversion stirred up the ‘mixture’ a bit more and some splashed out of the mixer making a bit of a mess – we saw markets pull back yesterday.
Will we see more cake making today? Maybe it’s more of a market crumble than a market tumble? Let’s see what today brings…
News updates
Oil prices head downwards. FTSE 100 opens flat. Sterling ticks up a little. Speculation re-surfaces that the U.S. may cut interest rates again in September given that some indicators are pointing to a global slowdown. And Trump tears into the Federal Reserve again over interest rate policy.
UK retail sales rose 0.2% in July, compared to the previous month – according to data released by the ONS – Office for National Statistics.
U.S. stock futures climb, pointing to a likely re-bound for equities but then turn south again. Hong Kong reportedly cuts growth forecast for 2019 amid protests, and the escalating China – U.S. trade war. China says it will have to take counter measures against latest U.S. tariffs – if they go ahead.
Is a ‘perfect storm’ brewing?
Dow futures now points to a 200 point drop at the open (10:45 BST 15th August 2019). And then, guess what? Dow futures go back up. Crazy market volatility returns!
Hong Kong announces multi-billion dollar economic support package. Markets lift on the news.
UK – Asda reports a 0.3% fall in like-for-like sales for the first half of the year to 30 June.
China’s online giant Alibaba reported a big rise in first quarter sales on strong ecommerce and cloud computing.
U.S. – retail sales up by 0.7% in July. Weekly jobless claims total 220,000 vs 214,000 expected. Q2 nonfarm productivity up 2.3% vs 1.5% expected.
U.S. – Dow opens up slightly after yesterday, the worst day of 2019 – helped as China says it hopes to meet halfway on trade. Positive U.S. economic data encouraging signs for a healthy economy.
Stock markets in ‘nervous’ wait and see mode. Wall Street remains flat. A European Central Bank website reportedly hacked.
Stock market indices update, August 15th 2019
Closing positions of: FTSE 100, DAX, DOW, S&P 500, NASDAQ, NIKKEI & GOLD
I trade these indices.
Global stock markets are in a nervous ‘wait and see’ mode as global slowdown and recession worries persist. China says it will introduce counter measures to Trumps tariffs. Hong Kong central bank introduces multi billion dollar support package as recession looms.
FTSE 100 – closed down at: 7067
DAX – closed down at: 11412
DOW – closed up at: 25579
S&P 500 – closed up at: 2847
NASDAQ – closed down at: 7766
NIKKEI – closed up at: 20405
GOLD – closed at around: $1,533
Key: Green highlight markets move up. Red highlight markets move down.
All values rounded.
End