“Also, if the yuan continues to depreciate, that’s negative to stocks as well, because it means investors are not confident about China’s economic restructuring”. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, plummeted by 10 basis points to 2.139 percent. It is now up 70 percent in just five days.
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Though the drop in oil can help consumers and businesses by cutting their energy bills, the recent decline has been weighing on stocks as investors worry it is a sign of a weak global economy.
“We’re stockpiling commodities and demand is not picking up”, said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors. Further out, a report on foreign direct investment in China is due on Wednesday.
Energy sector rose almost one percent around midday on Thursday to lead S&P 500 advancers, despite oil prices continued to hover near a seven-year low after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided last Friday to keep crude production pumping at current level in an already oversupplied market.
The price of crude oil fell 40 cents, or 1 percent, to $36.76 a barrel in NY. Oil prices have been falling for 1 1/2 years and are now at their lowest levels since early 2009 in the midst of the global financial crisis.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.9% to 2012.37.
In economic news, October U.S. business inventories was unchanged, while September’s figure was revised to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent. The S&P 500 index showed 1 new 52-week high and 26 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 5 new highs and 72 new lows.
Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX emerging companies with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China. Their prices have fallen sharply as investors fear the companies that issued the bonds might default.
DuPont Co. slipped 3.4 percent in premarket NY trading after jointly announcing a merger of equals with Dow Chemical Co.in a deal that’s the first step in a plan to create three new specialized businesses.
The S&P started its sell-off when USA crude oil CLc1 started its decline around 10.35 a.m (1535 GMT).
Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index plunged by 5.7 percent, while the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped by 3.6 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.
Dual-listed mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both soared close to 4 per cent in London trade, while Glencore recovered 4.6 per cent. The latter is no longer the worst performer on the FTSE 100 this year, with rival Anglo American claiming that unwanted honor overnight.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1 percent, but most other major indexes fell.
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Adobe Systems jumped after the software company posted better-than-expected quarterly results late on Thursday.
