Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day
(Bloomberg) --
Investors took a breather from worries over Turkey and emerging-market contagion, even as Ankara remained defiant in the face of U.S. demands to release an evangelical pastor. And crypto currencies had another bad day. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about.
Turkey Takes Aim at iPhones
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to boycott iPhones in a demonstration of defiance as the U.S. held firm to its demand that Turkey release an evangelical pastor and Turkish executives called for action to bolster the lira. Erdogan said the nation of 80 million people would stop buying American electronics, condemning the "explicit economic attack" against his country. The lira lost a quarter of its value this month as Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports and slapped sanctions on two ministers. It rebounded on Tuesday as Turks sold dollars. There’s a “real possibility” Turkey will impose capital controls to stem the plunge in the lira, which would be bad for the whole developing-nation asset class, said veteran emerging-markets investor Mark Mobius.
Stocks Halt Slide
U.S. stocks halted their longest slide since March and the dollar reached a 14-month high as investors brushed off Monday’s Turkey-induced turmoil. Treasuries dropped. The S&P 500 rose for the first time in five days amid thin summer trading. Small-cap shares paced the gains, with the Russell 2000 Index leading among major U.S. equity benchmarks. The gains in American stocks tracked a similar move in Asia as the rout in Turkish assets eased. The lira surged, and the country’s benchmark equity index climbed even as a diplomatic standoff with the U.S. dragged on. Oil fell as focus returned to near-term supply risks.
‘Panic’ Grips Crypto Investors
Bitcoin fell below $6,000 and dozens of smaller digital tokens including Ether retreated as this month’s sell-off in cryptocurrencies showed few signs of letting up. The largest digital currency fell as much as 6.2 percent Tuesday to $5,887, the lowest level since June, before paring some of the drop, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Ether sank as much as 13 percent, while all but one of the 100 biggest cryptocurrencies tracked by Coinmarketcap.com recorded declines over 24 hours. The total market capitalization of virtual currencies dropped to $193 billion. That’s down from a peak of about $835 billion in January.
Indonesia Rate Decision Suddenly a Close Call
The wave of volatility engulfing emerging markets increases the odds of another interest-rate hike in Indonesia in a policy decision on Wednesday that economists say is a close call. A rate pause this week was looking like a comfortable prediction after three rate hikes totaling 1 percentage point since mid-May helped to stabilize the rupiah and reverse some of the outflows earlier this year. That was all upended when Turkey’s lira plunged last week, sparking fears of emerging-market contagion that put the rupiah back in the spotlight and forced Bank Indonesia to step up its currency intervention to stem the fallout.
Tencent Earnings on Tap
As investors look for a bottom in Tencent, the Chinese internet giant is set to report earnings Wednesday. The company has shed more than $150 billion in market value since January, with $15 billion disappearing on Tuesday alone. The latest blow came when regulators told the company to remove Monster Hunter: World from its PC downloads service just days after its debut. Revenue is projected to climb 37 percent, the slowest since 2015, while operating profit rises 18 percent, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
What we’ve been reading
This is what caught our eye over the last 24 hours.
- World-beating U.S. stocks are showing no sign of falling back to the pack.
- The lira has taken another currency down with it.
- Tapestry Inc. wants its handbags and boots to conquer Asia.
- At least 22 people are dead after a bridge collapsed in Italy.
- Why a top Singapore executive fired himself.
- Elon Musk’s vast oil conspiracy ends with Saudi billions.
- Luxury home sales are booming in Hawaii.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Boris Korby at bkorby1@bloomberg.net
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.