Stocks Fall as Boeing Leads Drop; Dollar Weakens: Markets Wrap

All you need to know about global markets through the day.

21 Oct 2019, 05:33 PM IST

Stocks Fall as Boeing Leads Drop; Dollar Weakens: Markets Wrap

A man watches a screen displaying stock prices inside the Yangon Stock Exchange. (Photograph: Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities ended the week on a down note after flirting with all-time highs in the wake of mostly positive earnings reports. The dollar weakened to its lowest level since July.

Boeing accounted for about two-thirds of the decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, while sagging technology stocks such as Microsoft weighed on the Nasdaq Composite. U.S. regulators said Boeing failed to turn over communications between its employees during the certification of the grounded 737 Max jet.

“Markets are more forward looking, meaning that what happened in earnings season in the previous quarter has a temporary impact in the markets, but what is more important to know is the big trends,” said Juha Seppala, director of macro asset-allocation strategy for UBS Asset Management.

Treasuries rose, while most sovereign bonds fell across Europe. Oil futures fluctuated. The lira gained after Turkey and the U.S. agreed Thursday to a temporary cease-fire plan for Syria. While sterling was range bound it was still poised for a third week of gains before U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks parliamentary backing on Saturday for his Brexit deal.

American earnings so far have been relatively upbeat, after Morgan Stanley on Thursday became the latest big bank to buck concerns about weak growth. Traders will also be mulling the data from China, which showed GDP slow to 6% in the third quarter, with limited pick-up from domestic demand, but factory output improve and retail sales hold up.

Earlier in Asia, shares closed down in Shanghai after Chinese GDP rose by the least since the early 1990s last quarter. Benchmarks in Japan and South Korea gave up gains to finish lower.

Here are the main movers in markets:

Stocks

The S&P 500 Index declined 0.4% to 2,986.13 as of 4:01 p.m. New York time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.9% to 26,770.74.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.8% to 8,089.54.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dipped 0.3% to 391.84.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.3% to 1,196.08, the lowest in 12 weeks.

The euro advanced 0.3% to $1.1162, the strongest in two months.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 108.42 per dollar, the largest gain in more than a week.

The British pound climbed 0.4% to $1.2944, the strongest in five months.

Bonds

The yield on two-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 1.57%.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped less than one basis point to 1.75%.

Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to -0.38%, the highest in more than 11 weeks.

Britain’s 10-year yield climbed three basis points to 0.709%.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude declined 0.4% to $53.74 a barrel.

Gold weakened 0.1% to $1,490.58 an ounce.

To contact the reporters on this story: Claire Ballentine in New York at cballentine@bloomberg.net;Sarah Ponczek in New York at sponczek2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka