Opening Bell: Fresh U.S. Tariffs Round Clouds Markets; U.S. Dollar Rebounds

• New US tariff round prompts investors to switch to risk off

• S&P 500 closes 0.5% from January record close

• Tesla shares spike on Musk's plan to take the group out of the public market

h2 Key Events/h2

European stocks followed the majority of Asian shares into red territory on Wednesday after the US said it will start imposing 25 percent duties on an additional $16 billion worth of Chinese imports on August 23. Futures on the S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ 100 are wavering around neutral levels, suggesting the news may prompt a slowdown from yesterday's rally in the US session as well.

The STOXX Europe 600 opened lower, paring half of yesterday’s advance in early trade, as renewed trade tensions once again stole the spotlight and mixed corporate results gave traders one more reason to stay on the cautious side.

German power utility E.ON’s earnings plunged 32.4 percent, offsetting Glencore (LON:GLEN)’s 13 percent net income jump. Technology was the bright spot after Samsung (KS:005930) unveiled a $161 billion investment plan.

Earlier, during Asian trade, China’s Shanghai Composite underperformed its regional peers, slipping 1.27 percent lower and giving up about half of yesterday’s surge. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.39 percent higher, helped by the fact that foreign investors use it as a portal to Chinese stocks. According to the South China Morning Post,

h2 Up Ahead/h2

• Canadian Building Permits for June are released Wednesday.

• The Bank of Japan releases a summary of opinions from its July 30-31 meeting on Wednesday.

• Canadian Housing Starts for July and the New Housing Price Index for June are released Thursday.

• The preliminary reading of Japan's second-quarter gross domestic product is out on Thursday. Economists expect a robust rebound from the first-quarter contraction.
• Analysts expect data due on Friday will show a pick-up in US consumer prices in July
h2 Market Moves/h2

Stocks

• Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite declined 0.84 percent on Tuesday.

• The STOXX 600 dropped 0.3 percent.

• Futures on the S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1 percent.

• The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 0.3 percent.

Currencies

• The Canadian loonie was down 0.22 per cent against the U.S. greenback early Wednesday, trading at 0.7643.

• The Dollar Index gained 01 percent.

• The euro climbed 0.2 percent.

Bonds

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  Canada’s 10-year yield was steady early Wednesday at 2.370, a 0.09-percent decrease.

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose less than one basis point to 2.97 percent.

• Germany’s 10-year yield held steady.

Commodities

• WTI advanced 0.05 percent.

• Gold eked out a 0.01 percent.

Written By: Investing.com