Investors continue to assess the prospects for more stimulus from Washington
Wall Street stocks finished mixed on Tuesday while registering fresh all-time highs amid the persisting optimism over the economic recovery. Also, investors continued to assess the prospects for more stimulus from Washington. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.2%, the broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.1% while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 0.3%. Among individual stocks, Palantir Technologies plunged by nearly 13% after the software company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $148.3 million while Apple stocks finished 1.61% lower overnight following reports that Nissan said it was not working with the tech giant on autonomous driving technology.
Asian stocks were mostly lower on Wednesday as profit-taking continued during the session. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 0.58%, even as the vaccination began in the country. South Korea’s Kospi dropped nearly 1% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.46%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.10% as the index returned after long holidays. Chinese markets remain closed for a holiday.
In Europe, equities opened in red as market players turn more cautious ahead of the key events of the day. Later today, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from January’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting alongside U.S. retail sales figures. Investors are also watching dynamics in the 10-year Treasury yield that jumped yesterday to a level not seen since February 2020. The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.4% in early trade.
Meanwhile, the dollar staged a reversal, to see a bounce amid some deterioration in risk trends across the markets. As such, the safe-haven US demand sent the EURUSD pair down from February highs around 1.2170, to 1.2065 on Wednesday. During the correction, the common currency dipped under the 20-DMA that has turned into resistance again. However, the downside potential looks limited at this stage, so the euro will likely manage to hold above the 1.2000 figure in the coming days. If so, the pair could finally regain the bullish bias, to reclaim the mentioned moving average as support.
