Thursday 2 August 2018

Markets fall amid renewed trade concerns

Markets mostly fell on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.5 percent.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 percent but the Shanghai Composite plunged 1.8 percent after a report on Tuesday said that the US was considering raising its planned tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.

In the US, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged after its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. It said in its statement following the meeting that job gains and economic activity have been “strong”.

Kevin Nicholson, chief market strategist at RiverFront Investment Group, sees “a lot of overhead resistance” for the S&P 500 but Sandip Bhagat, chief investment officer at Whittier Trust, thinks “stocks should be able to move higher”.

In the meantime, Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank, said that the risk of a trade war “hasn’t been taken off the table” while Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management Inc, said that “the market is also struggling because of potentially higher interest rates”.

US technology stocks did rise on Wednesday, with Apple hitting a record high after reporting its highest-ever revenue for the three months ending in June.

BTIG's chief equity and derivatives strategist Julian Emanuel thinks the tech sell-off has reached its peak.

“The options market among other things is telling us that the fear is probably overdone at this point,” Emanuel said on Tuesday.

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