NEW YORK, July 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Global stocks were mixed on Monday as
earnings season heated up with reports from major banks, while oil prices
fell hard on worries about excess supply.
Markets kept one eye on a summit between US President Donald Trump’s
meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Trump’s supportive posture towards Putin drew some sharp comments from the
political world, but had only a “muted” effect on markets, as Briefing.com
put it.
There was little pattern in global stock bourses, with London and Paris
retreating and Frankfurt edging higher. US stocks finished mostly lower,
although the Dow mustered a modest gain.
China’s Shanghai stock index retreated after Chinese economic growth in
April-June came in at 6.7 percent, in line with forecasts in an AFP survey
and better than the government’s annual target — but a shade down from the
previous three months’ 6.8 percent.
Investors are girding for a heavy week of earnings and economic news,
including two days of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
beginning Tuesday.
Market watchers hope a strong earnings season will be the catalyst for
stocks to move higher and shake off worries about trade wars and tightening
monetary policy.
Banking shares were buoyed after Bank of America became the latest US
company in the sector to report better-than-expected second quarter earnings
behind lending growth and lower taxes.
Bank of America jumped 4.3 percent, while JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup both
climbed close to four percent. Both JPMorgan and Citigroup had fallen on
Friday after reporting solid earnings increases over the year-ago results.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank also had a good session, winning 7.2 percent in
Frankfurt after Germany’s biggest lender far outstripped analysts’ estimates
of its earnings in the second quarter.
Deutsche is looking to project a refreshed, confident image to investors
under new chief executive Christian Sewing, who replaced crisis firefighter
John Cryan as head of the bank in April.
Oil prices, meanwhile, closed decisively lower on worries over excess
supply, with analysts pointing to myriad factors, including reports the US
may tap its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower prices, the return of Libyan
oil exports following an outage and speculation the Trump administration
could allow some exceptions to a ban on purchases of Iranian oil.
– Key figures at 2100 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 24,064.36 (close)
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 2,798.43 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,805.72 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,600.45 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: UP 0.2 percent at 12,561.02 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 5,409.43 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,452.38 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.1 percent at 28,539.66 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.6 percent at 2,814.04 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a public holiday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 112.27 yen from 112.38 yen at 2100 GMT Friday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1712 from $1.1685
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3237 from $1.3222
Oil – Brent Crude: DOWN $3.49 at $71.84 per barrel
Oil – West Texas Intermediate: DOWN $2.95 at $68.06 per barrel.