By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A gauge of global stocks slipped on Tuesday after details over China’s stimulus disappointed as investor focus shifts to upcoming U.S. inflation data and corporate earnings.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks were higher in the early stages of trading as the benchmark S&P 500 bounced back from a drop of nearly 1% in the prior session, buoyed by gains in technology stocks, which gained about 1.3%.
Stocks had dropped in Monday’s trading on increasing concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East, and as last week’s solid U.S. payrolls report caused investors to reassess the size and pace of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
Investors are also eyeing Thursday’s inflation reading in the form of the consumer price index (CPI), while banks are scheduled to kick off the corporate earnings season at the end of the week.
“We did see (a) strong sell-off yesterday so it’s not unnatural to see a slight bounce, particularly as there’s a vacuum of fresh data today,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29.43 points, or 0.07%, to 41,924.81, the S&P 500 rose 33.38 points, or 0.58%, to 5,729.08 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 171.14 points, or 0.95%, to 18,093.92.
European shares dipped, as a lack of details on China’s long-awaited fiscal stimulus weighed on sectors related to the world’s second-largest economy, such as mining and luxury goods.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 1.18 points, or 0.12%, to 842.68, on track for its second straight decline and sixth in the last seventh session. The STOXX 600 index fell 0.56%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged 9.4%, its biggest drop since 2008, as it erased of the big gains it made during a Chinese holiday, after economic planner Zheng Shanjie told reporters China was “fully confident” of achieving economic targets for 2024 and would pull forward 200 billion yuan ($28.36 billion) from next year’s budget to spend on investment projects and support local governments.
But a failure to sufficiently detail new or large measures sparked concerns about Beijing’s commitment to pull the economy out of its current slump.
The Shanghai Composite and blue-chip CSI300, both of which were closed during the holiday, ended 4.6% and 5.9% higher, respectively, but well off earlier gains of more than 10%.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields rose as the interest rate path of the Federal Reserve is recalibrated in the wake of Friday’s stronger-than-expected jobs report and ahead of the CPI report.
Expectations for a 25 basis point rate cut from the Fed at its November meeting stand at 86.7%, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, with the market pricing in a 13.3% chance of the Fed holding rates steady. Last week the market was fully pricing in a cut of at least 25 basis points with a 36.8% chance for another outsized 50 basis point cut.
“Some reversal from those rate cut forecasts was expected and … it’s justified just based on the jobs data last Friday,” said Jim Barnes, director of fixed income at Bryn Mawr Trust in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.”
Oil prices dropped, pausing after a recent rally sparked by rising hostilities in the Middle East, as fears of supply interruptions from the conflict between Israel and Iran and a massive Gulf of Mexico hurricane eased.
U.S. crude fell 4.71% to $73.51 a barrel and Brent fell to $77.24 per barrel, down 4.56% on the day.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader said in comments broadcast on Tuesday that the group backs efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, as Israeli forces began ground operations in the southwest of the country.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.08% to 102.55, with the euro down 0.03% at $1.0969.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.05% to 148.26. Sterling strengthened 0.07% to $1.3092.
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(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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