“Despite the improving USA -centric fundamentals, we expect investors to remain long in gold given the need to insure against wildcards into the year, namely the growth risk from Brexit into 2017 and the upcoming November’s USA presidential elections”, OCBC Bank analyst Barnabas Gan said in a note.
Advertisement
A policy change could well be signaled when Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks in Jackson Hole this Friday.
At 11:06 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 42.35 points, or 0.23 percent, at 18,504.95. The Fed is not expected to raise interest rates at its September meeting, but Yellen’s comments will be dissected for clues on the likelihood and timing of a future hike. Homebuilders rose sharply following a big jump in sales of new homes last month, and Best Buy soared after the electronics retailer reported a surge in profit as online sales increased.
Wall Street has been on a record-setting run due to continued expectations for low rates, coupled with upbeat corporate earnings and strong economic data. The data eased concerns Britain’s vote to leave the European Union would spill over negatively into the euro zone. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7 percent to 4,420.93 while Germany’s DAX climbed 0.8 percent to 10,582.05.
With the unexpected increase, new home sales reached their highest annual rate since October of 2007.
J.M. Smucker SJM.N dropped 7.6 percent after its quarterly revenue missed estimates.
The S&P 500 .SPX was up 6.64 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,189.28.
Bond prices spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. It also plans to sell $13 billion of two-year floating-rate notes Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, eventually ended the day up by 1.4 basis points at 1.553 percent.
Against the yen, the dollar was changing hands at Yen100.22 late Tuesday, compared with Yen100.33 late Monday in NY. On the Nasdaq, 1,292 issues fell and 1,272 advanced.
A drop in oil prices pulled energy companies lower, along with the broader market.
Advertisement
IHS Markit said its measure of private-sector activity, known as the composite Purchasing Managers Index rose to 53.3 from in 53.2 in July (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eurozone-economic-recovery-picking-up-despite-brexit-pmis-show- 2016-08-23), surprising economists.
