Asian shares slipped on Monday and the dollar pulled away from last week’s lows on expectations that a signal might emerge from a Federal Reserve gathering this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that the US central bank is gearing up to hike interest rates.
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Separately, Pfizer said it is buying the cancer drug company Medivation in a deal valued at about $14 billion. Wall Street logged modest losses on Friday, ending almost flat for the week.Japan’s Nikkei .n225 rose 0.3 percent in early trade, taking solace from a weaker currency, but then shed the gains. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 45.13 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,552.57.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last up just 0.03 percent at 94.539 .DXY .
Declining energy stocks are weighing on Europe at midday, with Brent crude futures trading south of the highly watched $50 mark.
Utilities and health care stocks were the only sectors to rise. [O/R] Crude futures have risen nearly $10 a barrel since early August on speculation that Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will agree next month to a production freeze deal with non-OPEC producers led by Russia.U.S. crude fell 0.6 percent to $48.25 after gaining 9 percent last week, rising for a second straight week. The drop in energy prices dragged down energy stocks, which lost 1.2 percent, far more than the rest of the market. An upbeat assessment of the USA economy’s strength from Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer on Sunday was seen raising the prospect of Fed chair Janet Yellen flagging up a rate rise at a meeting with the world’s central bankers on Friday.
“The Fed has left the markets more confused than ever, in our opinion, and it is likely that the speech by chair Yellen at the Jackson Hole event will be more long-term focused and not provide enough clarity on the next hike”. “Moderate” is a common term used by the central bank, but the minutes left open the question of whether the second-quarter GDP report-which came in at an anemic annualized 1.2 percent growth, but wasn’t reported until after the July 27 meeting-will affect the Fed’s assessment of the economy much.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, -2.75% fell 3.8 basis points to 1.542%, according to Tradeweb.
The dollar was last up 0.06 percent against the yen at 100.26 yen JPY= .
Asian stocks closed lower, while US stock futures pointed to a weaker open for Wall Street shares.
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USA crude fell 1.57 per cent to $47.75 after gaining 9 per cent last week, rising for a second straight week.
