Daily Digest: Wednesday 29th May
USA
US equities took a turn to the downside as both the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 ended their two session winning streaks. The Dow ($INDU) led index declines falling 411.32 points (1.06%) to 38,441.54, while the S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 39.09 points (0.74%) to 5,266.95, and the Nasdaq 100 ($NDX) fell 132.69 points (0.70%) to 18,736.75.
Europe
The UK’s FTSE 100 (FTSE) headed lower for a second consecutive session, falling 71.11 points (0.86%) to 8,183.07. The index is now trading 262.73 points below the all-time highs reached earlier this month. National Grid was the sessions largest FTSE constituent looser, as share prices fell some 20.46% following yesterday’s announcement that the firm was the raise almost £7bn in funding, this was to take the form of a rights issue targeting current shareholders and investors, offering new shares at a discount based upon existing holdings. Shareholders and traders within the city have expressed discomfort over the issue overly ambitious and steep capital requirements. In terms of wider performances 85 index constituents closed lower, 1 was a non-mover, while only 15 closed higher.
In terms of mainland European equity performances, the major indexes continued to trader lower. The Pan-European STOXX 600 (€SXXP) also closed lower, falling a further 5.63 points (1.08%) to 513.45, while the German DAX (€GDAXI) fell 204.58 points (1.10%) to 18.473.29, and the French CAC (€FCHI) fell 122.77 points (1.52%) to 7,935.03.
Rest of the World
Japanese equities continued to decline through Wednesday as the Nikkei 225 fell 298.5 points (0.77%) lower to 38,556.87. This move came despite the JPY depreciating to new May lows against the US dollar with the currency pair trading at 157.658 as of 19:29 GMT. Typically, a depreciation of the domestic currency benefits domestic equities as demand from foreign investors increases as the prices of foreign assets appear relatively cheaper due to rate fluctuations. However, due to ongoing pressure on the Yen this effect is not observed, with many investors holding off on equity purchases as Yen depreciations continue as the USD strengthens.
Chinese equities experienced generally stronger momentum with the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (¥SSE) ticking 1.45 points (0.05%) to the upside at 3,111.02, stemming the losses experienced by traders during yesterday’s session. The Indian Nifty 50 (₹NSEI) failed to experience the same price reversal as the index extended declines for a third session falling 183.45 points (0.80%) to 22,704.70.
Commodities
As geopolitical tensions begin to ease and rate cut uncertainty persists, both WTI crude and Gold prices ended their respective three session gain streaks. As of 21:00 GMT WTI crude prices had fallen 0.96% to $79.06 per barrel while Gold prices had fallen 0.84% to $2,336.30 per ounce.
Sources:
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/world-indices/
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/commodities
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/indices/ftse-100
https://www.binance.com/en-GB/price/bitcoin
https://www.binance.com/en-GB/price/ethereum
https://qontigo.com/index/sxxp/
Stock Market Activity Today & Latest Stock Market Trends | Nasdaq
https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/#market-cap
https://www.forexfactory.com
Definitions:
YoY - Year on Year, or, Year over Year
MoM - Month on Month, or, Month over Month
QoQ - Quarter on Quarter, or, Quarter over Quarter
ECB - European Central Bank
BOJ - Bank of Japan
Fed - Federal Reserve
BOE - Bank of England
SNB - Swiss National Bank
DOJ - Department of Justice