Asian stocks declined and U.S. futures declined on Tuesday as traders mulled geopolitical strains and positioning for the up coming U.S.-China summit meeting. Trasuries, gold and the yen rose.
Asian Stocks
“It’s always possible the chair could walk back some of the market’s dovish interpretation of last week’s FOMC meeting…but we suspect he will reinforce the message laid out last week,” said Kevin Cummins (NYSE:CMI), a senior U.S. economist at NatWest Markets.
“By the end of July, we believe the Fed will have seen enough to decide that action to counter downside economic risks and low inflation/inflation expectations is warranted, and so we look for a 25 basis point rate cut at the next FOMC meeting.”
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3% as of 1:15 p.m. in Tokyo.
- Topix Index fell 0.3%.
- Hang Seng Index fell 1.3%.
- Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.8%.
- S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1%.
- Kospi Index fell 0.1%.
- S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2%. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Monday.
Currencies
USD DXY now looks likely to break through the March low of 95.76 and below there 95.0,” said Tapas Strickland, a markets strategist at NAB.
“The drivers here continue to be heightened expectations of the Fed cutting rates – now 3.1 cuts priced by years’ end,” he said, noting that a number of index trackers showed the data flow from the United States was now showing more disappointing misses than Europe.
- The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 106.92 per dollar.
- China’s offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8820 per dollar.
- The euro rose was at $1.1410, up 0.1%.
- The British pound was little changed at $1.2750.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 2%.
Commodities
Oil prices lost some ground on Tuesday, after rising sharply last week in reaction to tensions between the United States and Iran.
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.8% to $57.44 a barrel.
- Gold rose 1.2% to $1,437.19 an ounce.
