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Market Wrap: Stocks, Bonds, Commodities |
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On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed lower, with the S&P 500 falling 37 points (-0.48%) to 7,636, the Nasdaq 100 down 86 points (-0.29%) to 29,421, and the Dow Jones down 405 points (-0.77%) to 52,380.
Investors were discouraged to see Brent crude futures settle above the psychologically significant level of 100 dollars a barrel amid the intensifying conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Iran said it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers. U.S. WTI crude futures settled 3.02 dollars higher (+3.25%) at 96.05 dollars a barrel.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield advanced 5.3 basis points to 4.845%, its highest level since November 2023, as traders fretted that prolonged high oil prices could keep inflation sticky.
Most mega-caps closed lower, with Alphabet (GOOGL) declining 2.28%, Amazon (AMZN) down 1.78%, Nvidia (NVDA) down 0.91%, and Microsoft (MSFT) down 0.47%.
Meta Platforms (META) jumped 6.55% after unveiling Muse, its first consumer-facing AI agent.
Apple (AAPL) dipped 0.28% even as CEO John Ternus unveiled the company's first foldable phone, the Duo, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup.
Semiconductor names again showed relative strength: Marvell Technology (MRVL) rose 4.26%, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gained 3.04%, Micron Technology (MU) climbed 2.75%, and Intel (INTC) added 1.69%.
Energy stocks were boosted by rallying oil prices, with APA Corp (APA) rising 2.96%, ExxonMobil (XOM) up 2.22%, and Chevron (CVX) up 1.91%.
Casey's General Stores (CASY) gapped down 14.24%, as investors seemed unimpressed by the convenience-store chain’s better-than-expected quarterly results.
Chewy (CHWY) also lost 10.83% despite an earnings beat.
European stocks came under heavy pressure, with the DAX 40 falling 1.66%, the CAC 40 down 1.94%, and the FTSE 100 down 1.31%.
Spot gold snapped a three-session slide, rising 46 dollars (+1.07%) to 4,402 dollars an ounce.
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The U.S. dollar softened further after the U.S. Treasury Department said its bond buyback operation on Thursday would involve up to 6 billion dollars in 10- to 20-year Treasury bonds, triple the size of its last long-dated operation.
U.S. producer price data will be released later today.
In early Asian trading hours on Thursday, USD/JPY eased to 153.34, hovering around its seven-month low.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday: "I am the house now, so when we intervene with the Japanese yen, I have pretty good insight into what the Japanese, what the Bank of Japan is going to do, what Japanese policymakers are going to do, (...) And you can bet against me if you want."
EUR/USD edged up to 1.1635 ahead of the European Central Bank’s interest-rate decision later today, where a 25-basis-point hike is widely expected.
GBP/USD edged up to 1.3551, and AUD/USD was firm at 0.7220.
USD/CHF dipped to 0.8095, and USD/CAD eased to 1.3800.
Bitcoin still lacked traction, testing support at 78,000 dollars.
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In Asian trading hours, EUR/USD and GBP/USD were both steady, at 1.1639 and 1.3559 respectively.
Meanwhile, USD/JPY was little changed at 153.39.
Gold climbed to 4,416 dollars.
Bitcoin remained subdued at 78,037 dollars.
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The European Central Bank is expected to raise its main interest rates by 25 basis points, with the deposit facility rate lifting to 2.50%.
In the U.S., the producer price index is estimated to be up 5.3% year-on-year in August, while existing home sales are estimated to drop 0.2% month-on-month. Also, weekly initial jobless claims are expected at 205,000.
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