MARKET COMMENTARY
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks fell over 2% posting their worst performance year to date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 697 points (-2.06%) to 33,129, the S&P 500 dropped 81 points (-2.00%) to 3,997, and the Nasdaq 100 slid 297 points (-2.41%) to 12,060.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rebounded 13.8 basis points to 3.953%.
The S&P Global U.S. purchasing manufacturers index rose to 50.2 in February, the first expansion reading (above 50) in eight months, compared to 49.0 expected and 46.8 in January. This added to signs showing that the U.S. economy remains resilient, keeping investors worried about the Federal Reserve maintaining higher interest rates for longer.
Meanwhile, minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting will be released later today (Wednesday), and are expected to give investors some clues on Fed officials' views on the economy and interest rates.
Automobiles (-5.05%), retailing (-3.47%), and consumer durables & apparel (-3.33%) sectors lost the most.
Tesla (TSLA) slid 5.25%. Bloomberg reported that the electric-vehicle maker may acquire lithium miner Sigma Lithium (SGML), which closed the session 16.11% higher.
Home Depot (HD) sank 7.06%. The home-improvement specialty retailer gave a downbeat full-year profit guidance, and announced plans to spend $1 billion raising wages for hourly workers.
Also, Nvidia (NVDA) dropped 3.43%, Microsoft (MSFT) fell 2.09%, and Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) were all down about 2.70%.
Further on U.S. economic data, the number of existing home sales remained stable at an annualized rate of 4.0 million units in January (vs 4.1 million units expected).
European stocks also closed lower. The DAX 40 fell 0.52%, the CAC 40 declined 0.37%, and the FTSE 100 was down 0.46%.
U.S. WTI crude futures were little changed at $76.14.
Gold price slipped $6 to $1,834 an ounce.
The U.S. dollar remained firm against other major currencies, as investors still expected the Federal Reserve to be hawkish on interest rates. The dollar index rose to 104.20.
EUR/USD fell 42 pips to 1.0644. The S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers index posted at 48.5 in February for the Eurozone (vs 49.5 expected), 46.5 for Germany (vs 48.2 expected), and 47.9 for France (vs 51.2 expected).
In Germany, the ZEW economic sentiment index climbed to 28.1 in February (vs 21.5 expected).
GBP/USD gained 67 pips to 1.2108. In the U.K., the S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers index posted at 49.2 in February (vs 47.5 expected).
USD/JPY climbed 76 pips to 135.01. This morning, Japan's data showed that service-sector producer prices increased 1.6% on year in January (vs +1.5% expected).
AUD/USD declined 54pips to 0.6854.
NZD/USD slipped 45 pips to 0.6208. Later today, New Zealand's central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points to 4.75%.
USD/CHF added 45 pips to 0.9278, and USD/CAD jumped 90 pips to 1.3543.
Bitcoin failed to hold the $25,000 level before slipping back to $24,300.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks fell over 2% posting their worst performance year to date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 697 points (-2.06%) to 33,129, the S&P 500 dropped 81 points (-2.00%) to 3,997, and the Nasdaq 100 slid 297 points (-2.41%) to 12,060.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rebounded 13.8 basis points to 3.953%.
The S&P Global U.S. purchasing manufacturers index rose to 50.2 in February, the first expansion reading (above 50) in eight months, compared to 49.0 expected and 46.8 in January. This added to signs showing that the U.S. economy remains resilient, keeping investors worried about the Federal Reserve maintaining higher interest rates for longer.
Meanwhile, minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting will be released later today (Wednesday), and are expected to give investors some clues on Fed officials' views on the economy and interest rates.
Automobiles (-5.05%), retailing (-3.47%), and consumer durables & apparel (-3.33%) sectors lost the most.
Tesla (TSLA) slid 5.25%. Bloomberg reported that the electric-vehicle maker may acquire lithium miner Sigma Lithium (SGML), which closed the session 16.11% higher.
Home Depot (HD) sank 7.06%. The home-improvement specialty retailer gave a downbeat full-year profit guidance, and announced plans to spend $1 billion raising wages for hourly workers.
Also, Nvidia (NVDA) dropped 3.43%, Microsoft (MSFT) fell 2.09%, and Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) were all down about 2.70%.
Further on U.S. economic data, the number of existing home sales remained stable at an annualized rate of 4.0 million units in January (vs 4.1 million units expected).
European stocks also closed lower. The DAX 40 fell 0.52%, the CAC 40 declined 0.37%, and the FTSE 100 was down 0.46%.
U.S. WTI crude futures were little changed at $76.14.
Gold price slipped $6 to $1,834 an ounce.
The U.S. dollar remained firm against other major currencies, as investors still expected the Federal Reserve to be hawkish on interest rates. The dollar index rose to 104.20.
EUR/USD fell 42 pips to 1.0644. The S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers index posted at 48.5 in February for the Eurozone (vs 49.5 expected), 46.5 for Germany (vs 48.2 expected), and 47.9 for France (vs 51.2 expected).
In Germany, the ZEW economic sentiment index climbed to 28.1 in February (vs 21.5 expected).
GBP/USD gained 67 pips to 1.2108. In the U.K., the S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers index posted at 49.2 in February (vs 47.5 expected).
USD/JPY climbed 76 pips to 135.01. This morning, Japan's data showed that service-sector producer prices increased 1.6% on year in January (vs +1.5% expected).
AUD/USD declined 54pips to 0.6854.
NZD/USD slipped 45 pips to 0.6208. Later today, New Zealand's central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points to 4.75%.
USD/CHF added 45 pips to 0.9278, and USD/CAD jumped 90 pips to 1.3543.
Bitcoin failed to hold the $25,000 level before slipping back to $24,300.