Stocks Mostly Gain as FANG Feels Trade Pressure: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Most U.S. stocks hung onto gains to close higher even as FANG weakness and lingering concern over U.S. and China trade tensions weighed on investor optimism. Apple, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet were among the biggest losers in the Nasdaq 100 Index.

The S&P 500 broke a four-day slide, bolstered by increases in Microsoft and Home Depot, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a second day. The Dow Jones Transportation Average set a record high. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose as Italy’s benchmark surged, buoyed by official government comments over the weekend that the country’s impending budget will be pragmatic and within EU fiscal rules. Emerging-market shares slid. Equities sank in Shanghai and Hong Kong, with the latter’s benchmark nearing a bear market in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threat to step up his trade showdown with China.

“We’ve had so much data come through that we now get into a little bit of a lull,” Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Funds Group, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “So unfortunately the only thing that is left is trade, and we’re going to probably get more negative headlines on that than positive.”

Apple fell for a fourth straight day, the longest losing streak since April, after a weekend tweet from President Trump targeting the iPhone maker. The pressure comes ahead of a week in which Apple will launch new products at the company’s California headquarters.

“We have the product event coming up and usually we see momentum in Apple stock going into the product event,” Joe “JJ” Kinahan, the chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said by phone. “We’ll have to see if that turns around, if this is just a one-day event based on the tweets.”

The pound jumped after European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said a deal with the U.K. is “realistic” and “possible” within eight weeks.

Worries from the trade ructions to emerging-market turmoil continue to mar the outlook for global equities. Trump’s signal that he’s ready to target a sum of goods equal to virtually all imports from China came as data showed a healthy American labor market with signs of wage inflation that could clear the way for two more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes this year.

Terminal users can read more in our Bloomberg Markets Live blog.

Here are some key events coming up this week:

• Policy decisions from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank on Thursday.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet.
• Apple unveils its latest iPhones on Wednesday
• Australia employment is due Thursday.
• China releases August industrial production, retail sales data on Friday.
• U.S. retail sales, industrial production, consumer sentiment on Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent as of 4:12 p.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.3 percent.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.5 percent, the largest increase in two weeks.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index was little changed.
• Germany’s DAX Index climbed 0.2 percent.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 1.2 percent to the lowest in 14 months.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.7 percent, reaching the lowest in about 13 months on its eighth consecutive decline.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2 percent.
• The euro gained 0.4 percent to $1.1597.
• The British pound increased 0.8 percent to $1.3026.
• The Japanese yen decreased 0.2 percent to 111.18 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell less than one basis point to 2.94 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield increased one basis point to 0.40 percent, the highest in more than a week.
• Britain’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 1.47 percent.
• Italy’s 10-year yield declined 13 basis points to 2.90 percent.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 0.2 percent to $67.56 a barrel.
• Gold was little changed at $1,196.45 an ounce.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Ponczek in New York at sponczek2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka

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