JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

Runaway dollar pauses for breath as bears stalk stocks

Runaway dollar pauses for breath as bears stalk stocks

Tuesday, September 27, 2022, 11:34 GMT+7
Runaway dollar pauses for breath as bears stalk stocks
Pound and U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Asian markets attempted to stabilise on Tuesday after a wild few days of stumbling stocks, crumbling bonds, a plunging pound and soaring dollar, with the dollar easing a bit and stocks flat.

Sterling GBP=D3, which collapsed to a record low $1.0327 on Monday, recovered to $1.0742. S&P 500 futures ESc1 rose 0.7%, and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.7%..T

Analysts were doubtful about the outlook, however, as markets - already jittery at the prospect of U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer - have been further unnerved by an upheaval in British assets in response to government spending plans.

Britain plans tax cuts on top of huge energy subsidies, and a lack of confidence in the strategy and its funding hammered gilts and the pound on Friday and again on Monday.

The yield on five-year gilts GB5YT=RR is up a stunning 100 basis points in two trading days.

"(It) is definitely something that's unfolding...probably we're only at a certain initial stage of seeing how the market digests that kind of information," said Yuting Shao, macro strategist at State Street Global Markets.

"Of course the tax cut plan itself was really aimed to stimulate growth, reduce household burdens, but it does raise the question of what the implications are in terms of the monetary policies."

After the pound's plunge, the Bank of England said it would not hesitate to change interest rates and was monitoring markets "very closely".

Spillover to U.S. markets drove Wall Street deeper into a bear market, lifted benchmark 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR more than 20 bps to a 12-year high of 3.933%, and has kept the greenback bid. US/

After two weeks of mostly steady losses on the U.S. stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI confirmed on Monday that it was in a bear market, tracing its start to declines in early January. .N

The S&P 500 index .SPX confirmed in June it was in a bear market, and on Monday it ended the session below its mid-June closing low, extending this year's overall selloff.

State Street's Shao said uncertainty is rippling through the market and weighing on investor sentiment.

"We are already entering a bit of a slowing down when it comes to global recovery. And the continual tightening of central banks will of course bring more pain in terms of their domestic economic recovery," she said.

The dollar index =USD on Tuesday eased 0.1% to 113.8, after earlier touching 114.58, its strongest against a basket of peer currencies since May 2002.

The European single currency EUR= was up 0.3% on the day at $0.9634 after hitting a 20-year low a day ago.

Oil and gold nursed losses. Gold XAU=, which hit a 2-1/2 year low on Monday rose 0.5% to $1,629 an ounce. Oil lifted slightly from its lowest levels since January. O/R

U.S. crude CLc1 ticked up 0.66% to $77.22 a barrel. Brent crude LCOc1 rose to $84.71 per barrel.

Reuters

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Latest news