Market Update & Important Indicators
U.S. stocks stalled intraday, with gains in consumer staples and trade-sensitive sectors largely offset by declines in financial and technology firms. The Dow industrials were recently up 0.1%, at 25,999 after previously climbing as much as 175 points. The S&P 500 remained unchanged, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%. Trade-sensitive manufacturing and materials stocks rallied on the latest signs that the U.S. is willing to compromise on trade. Freeport-McMoRan, Stanley Black & Decker and Boeing were among the S&P 500's leaders. Meanwhile, rising oil prices continued to lift energy stocks around the world, as traders weighed possible supply disruptions and a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. stockpiles. The S&P 500 financials sector fell 0.8%, hurt by falling Treasury yields that can portend lower lending profitability as investors weighed comments from a Barclays industry conference. And declines in semiconductor stocks led the broader technology sector lower, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index dropping for the fifth time in the past six sessions after Goldman Sachs downgraded the semiconductor capital equipment space to neutral from attractive. The bank also lowered its rating on Micron Technology to neutral from buy. The US gold price gained 0.7% to record 1206.10 US$/oz.
European shares rose as the euro fell against the dollar and rising crude prices boosted oil stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.28%, or 1.04 points, to 376.35 as the single currency fell 0.2% to $1.1582. Germany's DAX lifted 0.2% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.6%. Oil-service contractors were among the biggest beneficiaries of rising oil prices, with Subsea 7 up 5%, Saipem lifting 3.3% and SBM Offshore climbing 2.9%. U.K. utility SSE was the biggest pan-European faller, down 7.8% after a profit warning.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index continued to slide, declining 0.3%, after entering bear market territory — commonly defined as a drop of 20% from a recent high. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.3%, taking year-to-date losses to almost 20%. The Nikkei Stock
Average was down 0.3%. News Tuesday that China will ask the World Trade Organization for permission to impose sanctions on the U.S. rattled investors, coming days after President Trump said he was prepared to impose a third round of tariffs on $267 billion of Chinese goods.
Australian stocks fell slightly after ending an eight-day losing streak on Tuesday. The ASX fell 4 points to 6284 after spending essentially all day just barely in negative territory. Though energy stocks jumped 1.8% after an overnight pop in oil prices–which has been extended in Asian trading–financials and materials respectively lost 0.4% and 0.3%; telecoms shed 0.7%.
Base metal prices were up overnight on the London Metal Exchange. Nickel was up 3.3% to 12,543/t. Zinc gained 2.5% to record 2,359/t. The 3-month copper contract added 2.4% to 5,981/t, while lead finished 3% higher to record 2,002/t. Aluminium appreciated 1% to 2,025/t.
Recent Contacts & Presentations
Strandline (STA), Dimerix (DXB), Aspire Mining (AKM), Austal Limited (ASB), Macmahon Holdings Limited (MAH), Nickle Mines Limited (NIC), Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (CVN), Prodigy Gold (PRX), Ausdrill Ltd (ASL), Bionomics Ltd (BNO), Gold Road Resources (GOR), Encounter Resources Ltd. (ENR), OZ Minerals Limited (OZL), Melbana Energy (MAY), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT), Novo Litio (NLI), Classic Minerals (CLZ), OZ Minerals (OZL), Saturn Metals (STN), Antipa Minerals (AZY), SRG Ltd (SRG) Bowen Coking Coal (BCB), Birimian (BGS), Breaker Resources (BRB), Galena Mining (G1A), Valmec (VMX),Bryah Resources (BYH), Calima Energy (CE1) Genesis Minerals (GMD), Agrimin (AMN), Magnetic Resources (MAU), Core Exploration (CXO), Marindi Metals (MZN), MOD Resources (MOD), Santos (STO), Adriatic Metals (ADT) Bio–Gene Technology (BGT), Walkabout Resources (WKT), Triton Minerals (TON), Calima Energy (CE1)
Please read Argonaut's Important Disclaimers & disclosures
Log in to the client area below to download the full Morning Note PDF
