Global stocks are mixed after Wall Street’s best week of the year; yen rallies

Global stocks were mixed on Monday as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming meeting after Wall Street’s best week in November ended with U.S. stocks slightly higher on Friday.

Germany’s DAX was little changed at 18,319.80 in early trade and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.1 percent to 7,459.45. In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent at 8,298.41. S&P 500 futures fell 0.1 percent, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.1 percent.

Japan’s benchmark index ended 1.8 percent lower at 37,388.62 after data showed that core car orders, which are used as a leading indicator of capital spending over the next six to nine months, they fell 1.7% year-on-year in June.

The US dollar fell nearly 1 percent to 146.15 yen, from 147.58 yen, as growing bets on a Fed rate cut in September dragged the greenback lower.

“The recent turmoil in the foreign exchange market is not just about the Bank of Japan… other factors such as signals from the Federal Reserve about possible rate cuts, weak US labor market data and broader global economic uncertainties have also contributed to the recent turbulence,” Luca Santos, currency analyst at ACY Securities, said in a comment.

Currency traders watch monitors in the foreign exchange trading room of KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ahn Young-joon

The market’s focus is on Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a speech later in the week. The setting has been the site of big policy announcements in the past.

Because the Fed has said its future moves will largely depend on what reports say at the time, “it will be difficult for Powell to pre-commit to a particular trajectory at Jackson Hole,” Deutsche Bank economists said led by Matthew. Luzzetti.

But Powell could offer clues as to whether the Fed is hoping only to remove the brakes on the economy through rate cuts or give it an accelerator.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1 percent to 7,980.40 and Seoul’s Kospi lost 0.9 percent to 2,674.36. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8 percent to 17,569.57, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5 percent to 2,893.67.

Bangkok’s SET rose 1.3 percent after data showed the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier, boosted by tourism.

On Friday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.2 percent to 5,554.25 for a seventh straight gain and retreated 2 percent from a record high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 percent to 40,659.76 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2 percent to 17,631.72.

Treasury yields fell in the bond market following mixed reports on the US economy. One showed that homebuilders started fewer projects last month than forecast, throwing some cold water on the market. Optimism rose earlier in the week after a series of better-than-expected reports on everything from inflation to sales to US retailers.

But a report later in the morning suggested that US consumers are feeling better about the economy than expected. It’s a big problem for Wall Street because their spending is the biggest part of the economy.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.88 percent from 3.92 percent late Thursday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, fell to 4.05 percent from 4.10 percent late Thursday.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 42 cents to $75.12 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 51 cents to $79.17 a barrel.

The euro strengthened against the US dollar. It traded at $1.1037 on Monday, up from $1.1028.

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