A more sober mood came in the markets Friday amid renewed tensions between the US and China and little progress on a federal spending deal in Washington. The dollar was up in five for the first day.
Futures on the S&P 500 stabilized after the index closed at an all-time high on Thursday as Congress rushed to negotiate a pandemic relief deal. The US is preparing Blacklist Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and dozens of other Chinese companies, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the case. US stocks can also be more volatile than usual, with options and futures on indices and stocks expired.
The dollar rose, benefiting from declines in other Group currencies of 10. In Europe, miners and telecom companies led to an increase in the Stoxx 600 Index, while retail and travel companies declined. The pound and euro fell as both sides in the Brexit talks warned that progress had been made another catch with just a few hours left to find a deal.
With the clock ticking to resume pandemic aid, Washington leaders are under pressure to resolve their differences after months of stalemate amid signs of a faltering economic recovery. A two-pronged US stimulus deal “appears to be near,” said Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, but will likely have to work over the weekend to get through Congress.
The stimulus package “should be a sufficient bridge,” Steven Wieting, global investment strategist at Citigroup Private Bank, told Bloomberg TV. “That along with preparing for this Covid emergency at this stage and the fact that vaccines are on the way by mid-year, would certainly be enough to get us through this period of weakness.”
Elsewhere, copper reached $ 8,000 per ton for the first time in more than seven years due to rising supply and demand bottlenecks.
These are the main movements in markets:
Shares
- Futures on the S&P 500 Index were up 0.1% as of 7:02 am New York time.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.1%.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4%.
- The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 0.3%.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%.
- The euro fell 0.1% to $ 1.2254.
- The British pound fell 0.4% to $ 1.3526.
- The onshore yuan weakened 0.1% to 6,537 per dollar.
- The Japanese yen weakened 0.3% to 103.38 per dollar.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year government bonds rose one basis point to 0.94%.
- The yield on two-year government bonds remained unchanged at 0.12%.
- The German 10-year yield increased by one basis point to -0.56%.
- The Japanese 10-year interest rate fell less than one basis point to 0.01%.
- The UK 10-year yield fell by two basis points to 0.266%.
Raw materials
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.1% to $ 48.31 a barrel.
- Brent crude oil fell 0.3% to $ 51.36 a barrel.
- Gold had changed little at $ 1,885.37 an ounce.