Investors also keep watching developments surrounding Ukraine as Moscow-Kyiv tensions continue to rise
US stocks finished lower on Monday with the Nasdaq Composite index falling to the lowest level in two years. The tech-heavy index shed 1.04%, posting its lowest close since July 2020 amid a sell-off in semiconductor stocks. Shares of Nvidia closed 3.36% lower after losing more than 8% last Friday. The S&P 500 fell 0.75%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.32%. The downside pressure intensified after Fed’s Brainard said the full brunt of interest rate increases won’t be apparent for months.
Asian equity markets were mostly lower on Tuesday as risk-off trends persisted globally. Geopolitical tensions across the globe keep investors worried about the outlook for the economic growth. There are also sighs of fresh COVID outbreaks in China and fresh lockdowns. Still, the Shanghai Composite index added 0.22% due to a solid outlook from COSCO Shipping Holdings and Contemporary Amperex Technology. The two stocks gained 2.8% and 5.5%, respectively. Also on the positive side, fresh data showed that China’s auto sales in September rose 25.7% from a year earlier to 2.61 million units.
In Europe, stocks opened lower amid persisting concerns over more monetary policy tightening from central banks. Regional investors also keep watching developments surrounding Ukraine as Moscow-Kyiv tensions continue to rise. Elsewhere, the Bank of England announced a move to purchase inflation-linked debt until the end of this week in order to stem a collapse in Britain’s government bond market. Now, global markets are looking ahead to a key U.S. inflation print due on Thursday.
In currency markets, the dollar extends the ascent, preserving the upside bias for the sixth day in a row on Tuesday. The USD index has settled above 113.00 to extend gains towards the 113.50 intermediate barrier on the way towards the 114.00 mark. EURUSD has been pressured below parity, challenging the 0.9700 support zone in early European deals. A failure to hold above the 0.9670 region would pave the way towards 0.9635. Should the US CPI report add to dollar’s bullishness this week, the shared currency will suffer even deeper losses in the near term.
