The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell, snapping a five-week streak of gains, as renewed trade tensions and a slide in the Turkish lira rippled across global Markets. Trading had been relatively quiet for much of the week with the corporate earnings season winding down, keeping major indexes in a relatively narrow range through Thursday. But stocks around the world lost traction Friday as selling accelerated in the Turkish lira, sending the currency to a fresh low against the dollar and raising fears that the country may be unable to repay debt denominated in other currencies. The Dow industrials slumped 196.09 points, or 0.8%, to 25313.14. The S&P 500 slipped 20.30 points, or 0.7%, to 2833.28 sliding further from its January high, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 52.67 points, or 0.7%, to 7839.11, breaking an eight-session winning streak. For the week, the Dow industrials dropped 0.6%, while the S&P 500 posted a 0.2% loss and the Nasdaq advanced 0.3%. Although markets wobbled Friday, many investors and analysts remain optimistic about the nine-year bull market. With results in from 91% of companies, the S&P 500 is on track to report the second fastest pace of earnings growth since the third quarter of 2010. The US Gold price decreased 0.1% to 1211.20 US$/oz.
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.1%, following Asian markets lower. European banking stocks dropped on concerns about lenders' exposure to debts in Turkey. As markets fell, analysts and investors debated how far the impact could spread amid other concerns about the effects of a rising dollar on emerging markets and a trade dispute between the U.S. and China.
Asian markets were mostly lower, as Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.8% and South Korea's Kospi shed 0.9%. Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.3%. The move came as the country returned to solid growth in the April-June quarter, a trend economists said was likely to continue on the back of higher wages and consumer spending unless trade conflicts with the U.S. worsen. The world's third-largest economy expanded at an annualized pace of 1.9% in the second quarter of 2018 after a revised 0.9% contraction in the first quarter, which ended the longest stretch of growth in 28 years. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index edged slightly higher, ending a week in which Chinese stocks have seesawed amid escalating trade concerns between the U.S. and China.
Australia's stock benchmark struggled most of the day, with a late-day fade also hitting other Asia Pacific indexes capping the week's action. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 6278.4, cutting the week's gain to 0.7%. Helping that advance was the 3.5% bounce in CBA amid the bank's better-than-feared fiscal-year report. Energy stocks were the biggest drag of the day as oil prices fell further overnight. Utilities also lagged as AGL fell a further 2.3% after yesterday's weak forecast. But Baby Bunting was a standout, soaring 39% on its results.
Base metal prices were mostly down on the London Metal Exchange. The largest decline was seen in zinc that fell 3.1% to 2,550/t. The 3-month copper contract slipped 0.6% to 6,160/t, as tin also dropped at a same level to 19,499/t. The price of aluminium gained 1.3% to 2,087/t.
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