London, Tuesday, 31 May 2022
US Markets Summary
Tuesday, U.S. equities swung back and forth between gains and losses, prolonging a period of choppy trading after last week's rally ended the S& P 500's longest losing streak in over 20 years.
In a bumpy session, the benchmark index fell 0.2 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 percent after recovering from a nearly 400-point decline. The Nasdaq Composite was close to breaking even.
These developments follow weekly increases of more than 6% for all three indices, reversing seven consecutive losing weeks for the S& P 500 and Nasdaq, and eight weeks of losses for the Dow.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD) both climbed on Tuesday as part of a broader cryptocurrency relief rally.
Meanwhile, oil futures rose on news that Chinese officials were about to terminate a two-month COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai and that EU leaders had agreed to stop buying Russian crude oil and petroleum products. Brent crude oil futures increased 3.7 percent to $123.83, while WTI crude oil futures rose 3.6 percent to $118.70.
European Markets Summary
Except in the United Kingdom, European markets ended the day down.
On Tuesday, European stock markets closed in the red, with Germany's DAX down more than 1% and the STOXX 600 down 0.8 percent, led by a decline in retail stocks, amid increased concerns about the need for aggressive interest rate hikes to combat stubbornly high inflation.
Inflation in the Eurozone raced to a new high of 8.1 percent in May, above market expectations and four times more than the ECB's objective of 2%.
When the central bank meets next week, it is anticipated to announce the end of its large-scale asset purchases and confirm plans to hike interest rates in July.
Oil costs have also risen as a result of an EU deal to exclude Russian oil imports, which will likely push the CPI even higher. Rising borrowing prices, however, will likely exacerbate an already fragile economic recovery: GDP growth in France was revised lower to a 0.2 percent decline in the first three months of the year, while GDP growth in Italy was revised higher to a minuscule 0.1 percent gain.
The STOXX Europe 600 index, which represents about 90% of the European market capitalisation in 17 nations, declined 3.22 points, or 0.72 percent, to 443.35.
The FTSE 100 index in the United Kingdom climbed 7.6 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,607.
The DAX 30 in Germany fell 187 points, or 1.29 percent, to 14,388.
The worst performer was France's CAC 40, which dropped 93 points, or 1.43 percent, to 6,468.
The FTSE MIB in Italy lost 303 points, or 1.22 percent, to 24,505.
The IBEX 35 index in Spain fell 79 points, or 0.89 percent, to settle at 8,851.
(Written and edited by: The Decision Maker)
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