Stocks Steady With Treasuries as Holidays Kick Off: Markets Wrap

Bloomberg

Published Dec 24, 2019 06:12

Updated Dec 24, 2019 06:50

Stocks Steady With Treasuries as Holidays Kick Off: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- Stocks and bonds were steady across much of the world alongside U.S. equity futures during muted Christmas Eve trading. The dollar nudged higher.

Shares fluctuated in London and Paris while they dipped in Madrid. Markets in Germany and Italy were closed, anticipating the holiday Wednesday that will shutter exchanges on both sides of the Atlantic. Equities ended little changed in Tokyo on thin volume, while they dipped in Seoul. Shanghai recovered some of Monday’s slide that came after a sell-off in tech companies. A gauge of emerging-market shares fell.

Futures on the Dow Jones 30 Futures were steady. The gauge paced other indexes on Wall Street Monday when Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) climbed on announcing a leadership change. West Texas oil treaded water just above $60 a barrel.

Along with the holiday calm, several asset classes are managing to hold the extraordinary gains they’ve notched in 2019. The $45 trillion MSCI World Index is maintaining a 25% year-to-date surge that augurs its top performance in a decade. Gold advanced, on track for its best year since 2010, as mixed U.S. data Monday kept hopes of interest-rate cuts alive.

Elsewhere, the dollar edged up against its major peers but still was heading for a monthly decline. The pound was flat against the greenback after its worst week in more than two years amid renewed concern over a smooth Brexit.

Here are some events to watch for this week:

  • Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hosts a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in Tuesday in Chengdu, focused on trade.
  • Many nations’ stock markets are closed Wednesday for Christmas. Australia, Canada, Germany and U.K. markets also shut on Dec. 26.
  • U.S. jobless claims on Thursday.
  • Japan retail sales and industrial production are scheduled for Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.1% as of 6:05 a.m. New York time.
  • The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index was little changed.
  • France’s CAC 40 Index gained 0.1%.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific dipped 0.1%.
  • The MSCI All-Country World Equity Index was little changed.

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.1%.
  • The British pound was little changed at $1.2938.
  • The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1071.
  • The Japanese yen was little changed at 109.40 per dollar.

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-Year Treasuries dipped less than one basis point to 1.93%.
  • Germany’s 10-Year yield gained one basis point to -0.24%.
  • Italy’s 10-Year yield rose two basis points to 1.43%..
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Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude increased 0.2% to $60.64 a barrel.
  • Gold increased 0.3% to $1,490.78 an ounce.
  • Silver rose 0.8% to $17.59 per ounce.
  • LME aluminum gained 0.6% to $1,814.50 per metric ton.