· Wall Street’s main indexes ended Wednesday’s session lower on concerns that a “phase one” trade deal between Washington and Beijing may not be completed this year, while minutes from the Federal Reserve’s October policy meeting appeared to offer little help.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 113.74 points, or 0.41%, to 27,820.28, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 11.79 points, or 0.38%, to 3,108.39 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 43.93 points, or 0.51%, to 8,526.73.
Before Wednesday’s drop, rising hopes for a trade deal and a fairly strong third-quarter earnings season had helped Wall Street’s main indexes scale record highs this month.
The Fed minutes offered little guidance on what would cause policymakers to change their outlook after they decided at the October meeting on the third interest rate cut of 2019 and signaled they were done with the easing.
Wall Street, which managed to end the day above its session lows, had kicked off trading in the red after a U.S. Senate measure aimed at protecting human rights in Hong Kong amid prolonged protests appeared to escalate U.S.-China tensions.
· European stocks closed lower on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hike tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing does not agree to a trade deal.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.3% lower at the closing bell. Travel and leisure stocks led losses, ending the session more than 1% lower, while the China-exposed basic resources sector was 0.4% lower.
· Asia stocks traded lower Thursday morning following a report that an anticipated “phase one” trade deal between the U.S. and China may not be inked by the end of 2019.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.24% in early trade, with shares of Tokyo Electron falling more than 2%. The Topix index was slightly lower. In South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.19%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.16% lower.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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