Global stocks fall before the Fed meeting

Highlights:

• USA
  The Dow Jones slipped by 0.54% or 192.38 points, to 35,213.12. Meanwhile, the selective S&P 500 cut 0.58% or 26.27 points, to 4,469.92.
  The Nasdaq slipped by 0.64% or 96.05 points at 14,945.81.
• ASIA
  The Nikkei fell by 0.36% or 101.15 points, to 27,641.14.
  The Kospi gained 0.17% 5.37 points to stand at 3,133.9.
  The Hang Seng lost 0.03% or 7.8 points to 25,407.89.
• EUROPE
  At the time of writing, the Stoxx 600 was trading with an increase of 0.05%, the Eurostoxx 50 was up by 0.08%. At the same time, the FTSEurofirst 300 lost 0.09%.

Wall Street sipped on Thursday while having an eye on the Fed meeting

Stocks finished lower Thursday in a cautious session. The New York stock market has been confused about the central bank meeting and plans for stimulus tapering. On the other hand, suicide bombings in Afghanistan weighed on the market sentiment.

The Dow Jones slipped by 0.54% or 192.38 points, to 35,213.12. Meanwhile, the selective S&P 500 cut 0.58% or 26.27 points, to 4,469.92.

The Nasdaq slipped by 0.64% or 96.05 points at 14,945.81.

The Pentagon announced two apparent suicide bombings near a gate to the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. It happened less than a week before US troops were set to leave the country. Reuters reported that the explosions killed numbers of civilians and at least 12 US troops. 

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 posted two days of record highs waiting for the beginning of the Fed meeting in Jackson Hole. 

Will there be any tapering?

There is growing anticipation for the Jackson Hole symposium. The most important issue is tapering, the end of the extraordinary stimulus launched by the Fed, which buys 120 billion dollars a month in government bonds and mortgage-related issues. A shutdown justified by the long years of support for the economy, by the prospect of rising inflation and solid economic recovery. The fiscal policy has done a lot to put the world’s leading economy back on track. But there are still many uncertainties on the horizon, and caution is maximum.

On the other hand, the Labor Department reported that applications for unemployment benefits rose to 353,000 last week. The number is higher than expected. According to the Department of Commerce, economic growth stood at 6.6% in the second quarter. It is one-tenth more than the previous data.

Shaniel Ramjee, the fund manager of Pictet Asset Management, stated that risk assets had had a good performance at the start of the week. However, as the central banks meeting approaches, sales have been imposed to take profits. 

Almost all sectors ended the day with losses. The energy sector slipped by 1.45% and was the most affected. Non-essential goods declined by 0.7%, and communications lost 0.68%. In contrast, real estate was the only sector that closed in the green, with a rise of 0.13%.

Among the 30 listed on the Dow Jones, Boeing shed 2.04%, Nike dropped by 1.72%, and Walgreens lost 1.66%. Only four companies closed with gains. Among them, Salesforce profited the most, adding 2.66%. 3M added 0.54%, JPMorgan Chase increased by 0.52, and Honeywell International gained a slight 0.1%.

Nikkei fell on worries about stimuli withdrawal

The Nikkei fell by 0.36% or 101.15 points, to 27,641.14. Meanwhile, Topix index lost 0.34% or 6.58 points, to 1,928.77. 

Besides uncertainties about US stimuli withdrawal, there are many factors that investors are cautious about. One of them is the expansion of the target area for the state emergency and the uncertainty about politics.

However, the Nikkei average narrowed the rate of decline after the sell-off cycle. 

The trading value of the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was estimated at 2,113.5 billion yen. The number of stocks on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was 1175, the price increase was 880, and the number that remained unchanged stood at 134.

The sectors with the most significant losses were warehousing and port transport services, the precision instruments sector, and coal.

The technological Softbank dropped by 0.41%. Meanwhile, the Japanese leader of the automobile, Toyota Motor, lost 0.49%.

The shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines accumulated the highest number of operations of the day and surged by 9.95%. The transport company Nippon followed it with a 7.33% advance. At the same time, the semiconductor manufacturer Lasertec added 1.89%.

In contrast, the video game company Nintendo shed 1.48%.

The Kospi closes 0.17% higher

The Kospi gained 0.17% 5.37 points to stand at 3,133.9. Meanwhile, the Kosdaq technology index advanced by 0.3%, or 3.07 points, to 1,023.51.

The Kospi started the session in the negative territory and recovered somewhat mid-morning. However, volatility remained almost until the close.

It was the purchases of retail investors that allowed the selective to end in the green. Business volume was low and operators are waiting for the Fed meeting, which may determine the course of its monetary policy in the next few months. 

Technology giant Samsung Electronics, the company with the highest capitalization on the Kospi, slid by 0.4% today. At the same time, SK Hynix, the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer, lost 0.48%.

In the biopharmaceutical sector, Samsung Biologics decreased by 0.73%, but its competitor Celltrion advanced by 3.51%. 

Navar, South Korea’s largest internet search engine operator, shed 0.83%. Meanwhile, Kakao, a popular messaging application in the country, climbed by 0.33%. 

On the other hand, Hyundai Motor, the largest South Korean car manufacturer, plunged by 0.71%.

The Hang Seng dropped slightly

The Hang Seng closed with a slight loss today. The benchmark index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lost 0.03% or 7.8 points to 25,407.89. At the same time, the Hang Seng China Enterprises, advanced by 0.23%.

Sub-indexes were trading mixed. Among them, the services sector closed with a loss of 0.34%, and Commerce and Industry dropped by 0.69%. However, the Finance sector posted a gain of 0.76%, and Real Estate lost 0.79%. China Resources Land registered the biggest gain in the latter sector, surging by 5.28%. Insurer Ping An was honored in the financial sector, gaining 4.03%.

The digital trading giants didn’t have a good session today. Alibaba plummeted by 3.88%. Tencent followed it with a decline of 1.14%. Meanwhile, Meituan lost 0.79%.

As for the Trade and Industry index, the Haidilao restaurant chain advanced by 4.57%. 

The pharmaceutical company CSPC Pharmaceutical lost 4.08%.

Among Chinese state companies, oil firms had a positive trading day. 

Sinopec enjoyed a rise of 1.44%. However, the session has not been so beneficial for telephone operators such as China Mobile, which shed 0.84%.

The business volume for the session amounted to 128.92 billion Hong Kong Dollars.

European stocks are struggling to advance

Major European stock markets started Friday without any direction. Many investors are staying away from the markets before Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole.

At the time of writing, the Stoxx 600 was trading with an increase of 0.05%. The Eurostoxx 50 was up by 0.08%. At the same time, the FTSEurofirst 300 lost 0.09%.

Among the sub-indices, transport and leisure sectors experienced the largest drops. Stoxx index lost 0.46% in this section. In contrast, raw materials posted the biggest increase, adding 0.85%. It resulted from vase metal prices which benefited from the dollar decrease. The North American currency shed 0.11%.