NEW YORK, June 27, 2018 (AFP) – Wall Street stocks finished solidly lower
Wednesday on revived trade war fears, while oil prices surged to a fresh
three-and-a-half year high following a bullish US petroleum inventory report.
Trade remained at the forefront of investor concerns, with markets
cheering an announcement early in the day that President Donald Trump was
backing off a plan to impose tough new restrictions on Chinese investment in
the United States.
Trump said he instead supported efforts in Congress to strengthen the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) which provides
oversight of proposed foreign investments in sensitive technologies.
But Trump retreated from a plan singling out China that had aroused fears
of a major trade war and sent stocks tumbling earlier in the week.
US stocks opened higher, joining European equities. London, Paris and
Frankfurt all finished about one percent higher.
But Wall Street reversed course at midday and finished firmly lower, with
the Nasdaq putting in the worst showing, slumping 1.5 percent.
Analysts pointed to comments from White House economic advisor Larry
Kudlow warning that tougher action on China was still being contemplated.
“The president is unsatisfied with their response on trade talks and so he
put out there the possibility of additional tariffs,” Kudlow told reporters.
“The ball is in their court.”
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said the
Trump administration had “a confusing message on trade, almost to the point
where they’re making it up as they go along.”
It is unclear when or how the trade war fears will lift, he added.
“We don’t know what it is that’ll feel like a victory for anybody,” he
said.
– Oil prices surge –
Oil prices rose sharply, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate
finishing at $72.76 a barrel, its highest level since November 2014.
Oil prices were boosted by weekly data showing a big drop in US oil
supplies and by an outage at a key Canadian heavy-oil production facility due
to power problems.
Those dynamics added to the pressure on crude after the US State
Department on Tuesday warned US allies they would be hit with sanctions if
they did not halt Iran oil purchases by November 4.
“For someone who has claimed to be unhappy about rising oil prices, the
Trump administration sure has a funny way of showing it, or taking steps to
achieve it,” quipped Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.
When Trump blamed OPEC for higher crude prices he was “rather overlooking
the fact that if you take over 3.8m barrels of supply out of global
production that tends to push prices up.”
– Key figures around 2100 GMT –
New York – Dow Jones: DOWN 0.7 percent at 24,117.59 (close)
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.9 percent at 2,699.63 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 1.5 percent at 7,445.08 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 1.1 percent at 7,621.69 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 0.9 percent at 12,348.61 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 5,327.20 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.8 percent at 3,394.73 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 22,271.77 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: DOWN 1.8 percent at 28,356.26 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 2,813.18 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1559 from $1.1648 at 2100 GMT
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3117 from $1.3225
Dollar/yen: UP at 110.27 yen from 110.06 yen
Oil – Brent Crude: UP $1.31 at $77.62 per barrel
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: UP $2.23 at $72.76 per barrel