Overall risk sentiment stays rather sluggish, with US futures trading in negative territory
US stocks fell on Tuesday as investors continued to fear a hawkish message from the Federal Reserve ahead of this week’s Jackson Hole symposium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.47%, the S&P 500 fell 0.22%, and the Nasdaq Composite finished just below the flat-line. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 notched a three-day losing streak. In individual stocks, shares of Zoom Video fell more than 16% after the company lowered its full-year forecast after its revenue fell short of expectations.
Asian equity markets saw another bearish session on Wednesday, with the MSCI’s index of Asian shares outside Japan shedding 0.2% to suffer the eighth successive daily drop. Risk aversion continued after Fed’s Kashkari reiterated the central bank’s focus on controlling inflation ahead of all else. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% while Chinese stocks were among the worst performers in the region, with the Shanghai Composite index falling 1.4%.
In Europe, stocks opened lower so start the day as regional stocks remain on the defensive amid rising energy prices. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.3% in early deals. In individual stocks, ASR Nederland reported strong first-half earnings, pushing shares of Dutch insurance group 3% higher. Overall risk sentiment stays rather sluggish as well with US futures trading in negative territory.
In currencies, the dollar is slightly firmer but gains are too modest after yesterday’s rejection from the 109.30 zone. The USD index has settled below the 109.00 figure, lacking demand despite the persisting risk-off environment. EURUSD failed to regain the 1.00 mark during the recent bounce, holding below parity ahead of the European Central Bank’s accounts of its latest monetary policy discussions. Should the 0.9900 mark gives up, the shared currency will see fresh multi-year lows in the coming days.
