Market Update & Important Indicators
U.S. stocks rallied in the final hour of trading after shock waves from its biggest-ever daily point plunge rippled through financial markets, sparking steep selloffs in equity benchmarks from Tokyo to Madrid. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 451 points, or 1.9%, to 24796 intraday, after it dropped nearly 1,600 points at one point Monday and erased its gains for the year. The S&P 500 gained 1.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.8%. Trading was volatile, sending the blue-chip index falling as much as 567 points and briefly flirting with correction levels, before quickly stabilizing and climbing as much as 507 points, with less than an hour to go in the trading day. The moves put the Dow industrials on course to notch one of its largest intraday swings ever. Some investors attributed the choppy trading to lingering nervousness following a stock rout that brought the Dow industrials to its largest one-day percentage decline in nearly seven years. The U.S. gold price traded lower overnight, pulling back 1.1% to finish at 1,323.70 US$/oz.
European stock markets closed sharply lower and suffered a seventh straight decline, after a historic selloff in the U.S. the prior day sparked a global market rout. U.S. stocks opened in negative territory again, but made several attempts to push into positive territory as traders pondered whether to buy the dip or not. The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 2.4% to close at 372.79, logging its biggest one-day percentage drop since June 2016. It also closed at its weakest level since August last year. Germany's DAX 30 index slid 2.3% to reach 12,392.66, while France's CAC 40 index lost 2.4% to hit 5,161.81. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 2.6% to 7,141.40.
Asian stock markets fell sharply, building on the heavy selling in the U.S. a day earlier. But the picture brightened a bit by late-session trading. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average for a time was on pace for its biggest one-day point drop since 1990. Instead, it merely logging its largest such decline since the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union in June 2016, with a 4.7% loss. Taiwan's Taiex slumped 5%, the most in 6 1/2 years, while other indexes in the region were down 3% to 4%. Korea's Kospi held up, falling just 1.5%.
Australian shares retreated to mid-October levels after being slugged by the market's biggest one-day selloff since late 2015. That, as markets across Asia Pacific plunged following an overnight rout on Wall Street and a drop in futures that hints the selling isn't over in the U.S. Pulling off lows in late trading, the S&P/ASX 200 settled 3.2% weaker at 5833.3, the lowest in nearly four months. Energy was one of the worst performing sectors, losing 4.5% as oil continued to retreat, while the materials fared best with a decline of 2.4%. The heavily weighted big four banks were each down about 3% while Macquarie sank 5.3% despite forecasting a 10% rise in annual profit to a fresh record.
The London Metal Exchange’s 3-month copper contract traded lower overnight, finishing 1.3% weaker at $7,076/t. The other base metals also finished lower. Aluminium prices fell 1.7% to $2,173/t, while lead prices shed 1.4% to close at $2,623/t. Zinc prices slipped 2.4% to $3,508/t, while Tin prices slid 1.0% to $21,855/t. Nickel prices fared worst, closing 2.6% lower at $13,345/t.
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