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Worldwide equities edge down with economy in focus; oil steadies

MSCI's international equities index edged down on Thursday as investors anxiously examined combined economic data while they waited on Friday's. vital jobs report and oil costs held near 14month lows as. need worries offset draws on stocks.

U.S. Treasury yields fell and two-year yields reached a. 15-month low after ADP's private sector August jobs data revealed. less new jobs than prepared for.

Thursday's information revealed U.S. private companies hired the. fewest workers in 3-1/2 years in August while the July number. was modified lower, possibly meaning a sharp labor market. slowdown.

The weak information did little to calm investor jitters as they. waited on Friday's U.S. non-farm payroll report for August,. which is anticipated to clarify how fast the U.S. Federal Reserve. will cut rates of interest at its September conference. Economic experts are. anticipating 160,000 brand-new tasks for August up from 114,000 in July.

While bets have increased to 41% from 34% a week ago that. the Fed may kick-off its long-awaited relieving cycle with a half. percentage point move this month, traders still see an approximately. 59% possibility that the cut will simply be a quarter of a. percentage point according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

On Tuesday, Wall Street indexes suffered their biggest daily. losses in nearly a month as investor stress and anxiety about the U.S. economy magnified.

Tuesday's decline did some damage to the psyche of the. bulk of the bulls and kept individuals a little more worried. yesterday and today, stated Michael James, handling director of. equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

Today's data was similarly softer making it more. likely we're going to have a meaningful move in the market on. the tasks report tomorrow early morning, said James, noting that. increased stress and anxiety levels will cause more cutting of. positions than adding to positions.

Still, Thursday's information likewise showed consistent U.S. services. sector activity in August with the Institute for Supply. Management's non-manufacturing getting supervisors index at 51.5. last month compared to 51.4 in July.

But while the services information appeared to motivate traders. previously in the U.S. trading session, stock indexes lost steam as. investors turned their focus to Friday's data.

On Wall Street, at 03:01 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial. Average fell 186.52 points, or 0.46%, to 40,789.95, the. S&P 500 lost 13.07 points, or 0.24%, to 5,506.95 and the. Nasdaq Composite got 50.34 points, or 0.29%, to. 17,134.64. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell. 1.38 points, or 0.17%, to 813.67 while earlier in the day,. Europe's STOXX 600 index closed down 0.54%.

In currencies, trading was choppy as investors evaluated the. consistent services information versus the weak tasks number as they looked. for ideas on the course for rate of interest.

The services numbers alleviated some angst about the. strength of the economy, said Adam Button, chief currency. analyst, at Forexlive in Toronto. There are no indications of a tough. landing in any of the numbers. The marketplace is hanging on every. information point right now.

The dollar index, which determines the greenback. against a basket of currencies consisting of the yen and the euro,. fell 0.16% to 101.10.

The euro was up 0.2% at $1.1104 while against the. Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.22% to 143.42.

In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes. fell 3.9 basis indicate 3.729%, from 3.768% late on. Wednesday while the 30-year bond yield fell 4.6. basis points to 4.0207%.

The 2-year note yield, which generally moves. in action with interest rate expectations, fell 2 basis points to. 3.7497%, from 3.77% late on Wednesday.

And a closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield. curve measuring the space in between yields on 2- and 10-year. Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of financial. expectations, was at an unfavorable 2.3 basis points.

In energy markets, oil ended the session barely changed as. stress over demand in the U.S. and China and a most likely rise in. supplies out of Libya balanced out a big, bullish withdrawal from U.S. stocks and a hold-up to output increases by OPEC+ manufacturers.

U.S. unrefined calmed down 0.07% or 5 cents at $69.15 a. barrel while Brent closed at $72.69 per barrel, down 1. cent on the day.

Gold costs acquired as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields. fell as signs the labor market was losing steam led financiers to. think about a super-sized rate cut from the Fed.

Spot gold included 0.85% to $2,515.38 an ounce. U.S. gold futures acquired 0.57% to $2,507.60 an ounce.

(source: Reuters)