Market Update & Important Indicators:
U.S. stocks waffled between small gains and losses Monday as shares of energy companies fell alongside a decline oil prices and as investors looked ahead to a busy week of corporate earnings results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45 points, or about 0.2%, to 25064. The S&P 500 fell less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2%. Investors appear so far to have largely shrugged off trade concerns, and U.S. stocks have been supported by strong U.S. economic data and positive earnings expectations. In the S&P 500, 60 companies are on tap to report this week, including Netflix after the closing bell. Before the market opened Monday, Bank of America-the second-largest U.S. bank by assets-reported second-quarter earnings that beat expectations, sending shares up 3.8%. The results helped buoy financial stocks, which were the best performers in the broad S&P 500 on Monday, up 1.6%. Energy stocks, meanwhile, were by far the weakest of the S&P 500's 11 sectors, falling 1.4%, on lower oil prices. The US gold price lost 0.1% to finish at 1240 US$/oz.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended down 0.3% at 384.1, dragged down by falls in heavyweight oil and mining stocks. Oil prices fell sharply and data overnight showing a fall in Chinese GDP weighed on metals prices. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index, where oil and mining stocks have a high weighting, underperformed sharply, closing down 0.8%. Germany's DAX index outperformed, closing up 0.2%, as Deutsche Bank jumped 7.3% after the company said its profit would beat forecasts. France's CAC 40 closed down 0.4%, Italy's FTSE MIB down 0.3% and Spain's Ibex 35 down 0.2%.
Asian stocks have reacted negatively to trade disputes, with major indexes down so far this year. Shanghai stocks have shed nearly 15% since January, and economists estimate trade conflicts could cut 0.2 to 0.5 percentage point off China's GDP in the coming year. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.6%, following its largest one-week percentage gain since June 2016. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat and South Korea's Kospi was down 0.4%. The Tokyo market was closed for a public holiday.
Australian stocks faded as the day went on, finishing near session lows after having risen in five of the prior seven days. The S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.4% to 6241.5 as health care slid 1.9% following two days of strong gains that were led by CSL; it fell 2.9%. The market also saw a second day of declines in the heavily weighted big banks amid concerns about rising funding costs. Resources stocks were a decliner as well today, though consumer and telecom stocks rose.
Base metal prices were largely down on the London Metal Exchange. Tin lost 1.5% to 19,560/t, while lead fell 1.3% to 2,156/t. Nickel retreated 2.2% to close at 13,572/t, as the 3-month copper contract declined 0.8% to 6,165/t. The biggest fall was seen in zinc that lost 3.6%. Aluminium gained 1.9% to end at 2,107/t.
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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), Peel Mining (PEX), Catalyst Metals (CYL), Vault Intelligence (VLT), Doray Minerals (DRM), Nzuri Coppoer (NZC), Bowen Coking Coal (BCB), Phosphagenics Limited (POH) Great Boulder Resources (GBR), Orthocell (OCC), Northern Minerals (NTU), ABM Resources Ltd (ABU), Vital Metals Ltd (VML), Todd River Resources Ltd (TRT), Pacific Energy Ltd (PEA), Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd (CVN), Australian Mines Ltd (AUZ), Australian Finance Group (AFG), Paladin Energy Ltd (PDN), Cooper Energy Ltd (COE), Medibio Ltd (MEB), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT), Salt Lake Potash Ltd (SO4), Golden Mile Resources Ltd (G88), NTM Gold Ltd (NTM), Ausmex Mining Group Ltd (AMG), Matrix C&E Ltd (MCE), Austal Ltd (ASB), Decmil Group Ltd (DCG), Ventnor Resources Ltd, Ausdrill Ltd (ASL), Alice Queen Ltd (AQX), PNX Metals Ltd (PNX), Alliance Resources Ltd (AGS), Myanmar Metals Ltd (MYL), Primary Gold Ltd (PGO), Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Ltd (SHE)
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