Market Update & Important Indicators:
U.S. stocks fell at the end of a turbulent week across markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% Friday. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.1%. But all three indexes posted weekly gains. Declines in financial and energy companies dragged down U.S. stocks on Friday. Bank shares fell after news that the U.S. Justice Department proposed Deutsche Bank pay $14 billion to settle a set of high-profile mortgage-securities probes stemming from the financial crisis. Adding to the downbeat tone, U.S. crude oil fell 2% to $43.03 a barrel, bringing its weekly decline to 6.2%. The S&P 500 energy sector fell 0.85% Friday.
European stocks finished down Friday, with a selloff in Deutsche Bank leading bank shares lower and helping to mark a second-straight losing week. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.7%, ending the week 2.2% lower. Europe's broader banking sector fell 2.1%. Deutsche Bank shares stumbled 8.5%, wiping off roughly EUR1.5 billion from the German lender's market capitalization, according to FactSet data. The pummelling was set off by news late Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice asked Deutsche Bank to pay $14 billion to settle civil claims related to mortgage-backed securities. The amount requested by the DOJ is "multiples above expectations," and is being considered as a starting point for discussion between the two sides, said Jefferies equity analyst Joseph Dickerson. But it does intensify the concerns around other European banks caught up in similar U.S. investigations, he added.
Asian stock markets rose Friday, helped by gains in Apple's suppliers, while some uncertainty remained over the outcomes from central-bank policy meetings in Japan and the U.S. next week. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.7% and Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.6%. India's Nifty 50 index was 1% higher. Markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia were closed for the Mid-Autumn festival. Gains in Asian markets followed a sharp rise in Apple shares overnight, which boosted major U.S. indexes. Still, many investors remained cautious and refrained from trading aggressively before monetary-policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve next week.
Australia's equities market advanced Friday on broad gains, rising for a third straight day although not by enough to avert another weekly fall. The S&P/ASX 200 climbed 56.8 points, or 1.1%, to end at 5296.7. For the week, the index slipped 0.8. The market has now declined for five straight weeks, the longest losing streak since September 2014. There has been an increase in share-market volatility over the last week or so as bond yields generally have risen on heightened concerns some central banks are near the limits of monetary easing and uncertainty remains over when the U.S. Federal Reserve will increase short-term rates. All sectors of the market advanced for the day, with the basket of energy stocks 1.2% higher after crude-oil prices were lifted overnight by some of the biggest daily gains of the U.S. summer for gasoline.
The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract closed up 0.2% at $4,788/t. Aluminium rose 0.3% to $1,563/t, tin rose 0.2% to $19,092/t, nickel rose 0.1% to $9,674/t, zinc fell 0.7% to $2,201/t, and lead fell 0.3% to $1,936/t.
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
Dakota Minerals Ltd (DKO), Breaker Resources NL (BRB), Bard1 Life Sciences Ltd (BD1), Alto Metals Ltd (AME), Birimian Limited (BGS), Antipa Minerals Ltd (AZY), Vault Intelligence Ltd (VLT), Noxopharm Ltd (NOX), Gage Roads Brewing Co. (GRB), West African Resources (WAF), Cedar Woods Properties Ltd (CWP), Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Ltd (SEH), Salt Lake Potash Ltd (SO4), Kalina Power Ltd (KPO), Austal Limited (ASB), Agrimin Ltd (AMN), Stavely Minerals Ltd (SVY), MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (MXC), Vital Metals Ltd (VML), Tox Free Solutions Ltd (TOX), Swick Mining Services Ltd (SWK), Davenport Resources Ltd (DAV), Orthocell Ltd (OCC), BC Iron Limited (BCI)
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