Treasuries Edge Higher With U.S. Stock Futures: Markets Wrap

Treasuries edge higher on Wednesday alongside U.S. equity futures as global investors wait to see if there will be further turmoil in American markets when traders return to their desks. Gold added to its stellar month and the pound rose.

Asian stocks saw a volatile session, with Japanese equities closing higher on a wave of late buying after fluctuating throughout the session. Korean shares tumbled after a holiday there, and Shanghai stocks fell for a second day. Markets in Australia and Hong Kong were closed.

Economic indicators suggest world economic growth may be cooling, which makes it a bad time for markets to lose confidence in policy makers. Mnuchin unsettled investors at the weekend by revealing he’d reached outto the heads of top American banks to confirm they have adequate liquidity. The attempts to shore up confidence failed and CNN, citing a source close to the White House, said the Treasury chief could be in jeopardy. Trump expressed confidence in Mnuchin on Tuesday.

A steady outflow of U.S. cabinet members, including the Defense secretary, and a partial shutdown of the federal government have dented nerves. Potentially more constructive for investors were comments by Trump on Tuesday about his belief the Federal Reserve will “get it pretty soon.” He spoke days after Bloomberg reported he had discussed firing Chairman Jerome Powell out of frustration over interest-rate hikes.“These are incredibly tricky markets to decipher, as the outsized moves are not reflective of the current U.S. economic landscape,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at Oanda Corp. in Singapore. “But that seems to matter little so far, as fear mongering continues to permeate every pocket of global capital markets.”

Read more on the turmoil in global markets:

• The 10-year bull market is coming to a close
• Trump points to Powell as villain in stock slide
• Notes from the stock-trader trenches
• Political tensions are seen undermining the dollar
• A round-up of investor comments on Trump’s Fed bashing

Elsewhere, West Texas Intermediate crude edged higher, though it continues to languish close to $43 a barrel. The offshore yuan was little changed after China released new rules promising to treat all companies equally, the latest positive step on the trade and investment front since U.S. and Chinese tariff hikes were set on pause.Here are some events investors may focus on in coming days:

• India’s central bank releases a financial-stability report Wednesday.
• U.S. new-home sales are due Thursday.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• Futures on the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.3 percent as of 8:44 a.m. London time, the first advance in two weeks.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.2 percent, the first advance in a week and the biggest gain in more than a week.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 0.3 percent, hitting the lowest in eight weeks with its fifth straight decline.
• Topix index increased 1.1 percent, the first advance in more than a week and the biggest climb in two weeks.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index advanced 0.1 percent.
• The euro declined 0.1 percent to $1.1386.
• The British pound climbed 0.1 percent to $1.2691.
• The Japanese yen dipped 0.2 percent to 110.55 per dollar, the first retreat in almost two weeks.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 2.72 percent, the lowest in almost 11 months.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1 percent at $42.95 a barrel.
• Gold gained 0.3 percent to $1,272.22 an ounce.

Source

 

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