CURRENCY MARKET WRAP
As of Thu Jul 18th, Singapore Time zone UTC+8
Dollar Index -0.09%, 97.19
USDJPY, -0.19%, $107.94
EURUSD, +0.10%, $1.1227
GBPUSD, +0.03%, $1.2435
USDCAD, +0.02%, $1.3055
AUDUSD, +0.14%, $0.7009
NZDUSD, +0.01%, $0.6732
In Trade, The Wall Street Journal published a report right before the close, indicating that the U.S. and China remain conflicted about restrictions on Huawei Technologies. This further weighed on the already lacklustre risk appetite on Wednesday.
The 2-yr yield declined three basis points to 1.83%, and the 10-yr yield declined six basis points to 2.06%. The U.S. Dollar Index lost 0.2% to 97.21. WTI crude lost 1.4% to $56.78/bbl.
For Canada’s inflation print, the Loonie continues to rise despite benign data. Although consumer prices declined less than expected in the month of June, the -0.2% (consensus -0.3%) decrease was still the first drop in inflation this year. It drove the year over year rate down to 2% from 2.4%.
STOCK MARKET WRAP
S&P500, -0.65%, 2,984.42
Nasdaq, -0.48%, 7,888.76
Nikkei Futures, -1.34%, 21,133.0
S&P 500 lost 0.6% on Wednesday, pressured by noticeable losses in the transport stocks after CSX Corp. (CSX 71.38, -8.17, -10.3%) provided disappointing earnings results and guidance. The broader market traded modestly lower for most of the day with losses accelerating into the close. CSX was presumably the biggest influence on the transports, but earnings warnings from trucking companies Knight-Swift (KNX 35.08, -0.81, -2.3%) and Covenant Transport (CVTI 14.65, -0.51, -3.4%) also contributed to the negative sentiment.
The S&P 500 industrials sector (-2.2%) was Wednesday’s outright laggard, nearly doubling the losses of the second-worst performing energy sector (-1.2%). There were some bright spots in the space, though. Top-weighted component Boeing (BA 369.52, +6.77) rose 1.9% on no specific news catalyst, while United Airlines (UAL 94.78, +0.86, +0.9%) and Cintas (CTAS 260.37, +20.93, +8.7%) advanced on better-than-expected earnings results.
The S&P 500 utilities (+0.4%) and health care (+0.02%) sectors were the lone sectors that finished higher. Abbott Labs (ABT 85.76, +2.60, +3.3%) gave the health care sector some support after pleasing investors with its earnings results. Despite earnings-related gains in Bank of America (BAC 29.19, +0.20, +0.7%) and U.S. Bancorp (USB 54.22, +1.18, +2.2%), the S&P 500 financial sector (-0.9%) was unable to gain any ground. Most components finished lower, as the decline in U.S. Treasury yields, and some curve-flattening, weighed on the sector.