Washington (AFP) – US survey data rekindled inflation concerns, and rising bond yields helped pull the rug out from under a rally on Wall Street on Tuesday. US stocks finished firmly lower, while yields on the popular 10-year US Treasury rose.
“A much stronger-than-expected rise in US services prices sent shivers through US stocks,” said market analyst Axel Rudolph at online trading platform IG. ISM’s monthly survey of the US services sector showed it expanded in December, but the prices component also jumped to its highest point since last January.
There have been mounting concerns that incoming US president Donald Trump’s plans to raise tariffs, cut taxes, and crack down on immigration will reignite US inflation, putting pressure on the Fed to keep borrowing costs higher for longer. “There are still fears that Trump’s tariff plan will be inflationary for economies around the world,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown brokerage in London. The tariffs “could lead to further upwards pressure on the dollar if interest rates are forced to stay elevated in the US, due to higher consumer prices,” she told AFP. “This is having an impact on the bond markets and has led to a sell-off around the world,” she added.
Alongside the rise in US government bond yields, the yield on 30-year UK Treasury Gilts also increased, hitting its highest level since 1998. Friday’s US non-farm payroll report is the next big marker for investors hoping for some idea about the Fed’s plans for rates after it recently scaled back its forecasts for cuts in 2025.
The euro strengthened against the dollar as official data showed eurozone inflation accelerated in December to 2.4 percent. Higher eurozone inflation will make it more difficult for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates in order to boost sluggish growth. The euro later fell back, however, after the US services data, with the dollar rising against its major rivals.
European stock markets closed mostly higher, as did Asian stocks, which still benefitted from speculation that Trump’s tariff plans to slap tariffs on all imports may be scaled back. The Washington Post said Monday that Trump’s aides were weighing plans to apply tariffs to goods only in certain critical sectors — a narrower definition than the president-elect previously proposed. Trump, however, described the Post story as “just another example of Fake News.”
The report comes after Trump warned last year that he would slap huge levies on China, Canada, and Mexico. Late on Monday, the US Defense Department added the tech giant Tencent and battery manufacturer CATL to a list of companies it says are affiliated with Beijing’s military — a move China called “unjustified suppression.” Tencent’s shares plummeted more than seven percent in Hong Kong on Tuesday, while CATL stock sank 5.2 percent.
Key figures around 2145 GMT:
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 42,528.36 points (close)
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.1 percent at 5,909.03 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.9 percent at 19,489.68 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 8,245.28 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 7,489.35 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.6 percent at 20,340.57 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.0 percent at 40,083.30 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.2 percent at 19,447.58 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,229.64 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0342 from $1.0388 on Monday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2479 from $1.2518
Dollar/yen: UP at 157.98 yen from 157.64 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.87 pence from 82.98 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.0 percent at $77.05 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $74.25 per barrel
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© 2024 AFP
