U.S. Opening Bell: Oil Rout Wreaks Havoc Across Markets; Pound Drops

 | Nov 14, 2018 10:30

  • WTI plunge dominates market moves
  • Futures, European shares drop on global energy-driven selloff, mixed Chinese data
  • Tech rout shows signs of bottoming
  • Pound looses ground ahead of key PM May's cabinet Brexit meeting
  • h2 Key Events/h2

    Equities in Europe and US futures on the S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ 100 took their cues from Asian selling amid oil's record 13-day loosing streak and mixed economic data from China.

    The STOXX Europe 600 slid lower at the open, as jitters in the energy sector and WTI's ongoing slide continued to wreak havoc across markets. The price of the pan-European benchmark has been trading at the very bottom of the session, demonstrating no takers for the dip.

    During the Asian session, energy producers weighed on Australian shares, with the S&P/ASX 200 (-1.74) underperforming its regional peers. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (+0.16) outperformed but slipped off its highs of the day, while shares edged lower in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (-0.54%) , China’s Shanghai Composite (-0.85%) and South Korea’s KOSPI (-0.15%).

    h2 Global Financial Affairs/h2

    Yesterday, price glitches in energy stocks overshadowed Tuesday's newfound optimism over a trade deal—which remained mostly a matter of headlines rather than translating into any meaningful price action.

    The morning session saw shares on an upswing after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC that he US and China are talking on “all levels” of government. That followed an overnight report that China’s Vice Premier Liu He will pave the way for a meeting between the leaders of the world's two biggest economies later this month.

    However, oil’s stunning 7.07 percent plunge, or $4.24, which brought aggregate 12-day losses to 17.61 percent, or $11.90, sparked a selloff in the Energy sector (-2.30 percent), which in turn dragged the major indices lower.

    Materials (-0.30 percent) and Industrials (+0.45 percent), which should have benefited from more upbeat trade headlines, failed to stand out, with sector heavyweights such as Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) (+0.77 percent) and 3M (NYSE:MMM) (+0.68 percent) falling short of achieving larger gains.

    The S&P 500 fell 0.15 percent for a total four-day setback of 3.3 percent. Financials (+0.56 percent) outperformed and Utilities (+0.42 percent) managed to post a relatively upbeat performance.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4 percent for a combined three-day loss of 3.45 percent. Technically, the price yesterday fell below the 100 DMA, rebounded intraday to the underside of the moving average and fell back down. However, after reaching 0.35 percent above the 200 DMA, it closed off the low of the day, about 0.7 percent above the most observed moving average.

    Get The App
    Join the millions of people who stay on top of global financial markets with Investing.com.
    Download Now

    The NASDAQ Composite remained flat yesterday. However, with a four-day loss of 4.89 percent, it still was the worst performing index during this rout. However, it is noteworthy that the tech-heavy benchmark manage to limit losses to 0.03 percent amid an ongoing tech drubbing, even after Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) admitted to a serious problem with its iPhone. Might this be signaling the end of the tech-led selloff?