- Reuters Live Markets blog:
(Updates prices, changes comment, dateline; previous LONDON)
An index of stocks across the world dipped on Monday by what would be the largest daily drop in almost four weeks, after earlier touching a record high, with investors looking for earnings to justify the high valuations.
The U.S. dollar index touched a more than 6-week low and Treasury yields edged up after posting on Friday their largest weekly drop since June and oil prices slipped on concerns over rising coronavirus cases globally.
On Wall Street indexes fell, with Nasdaq the biggest decliner. Tesla shares fell following a fatal car crash.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 166.76 points, or 0.49%, to 34,033.91, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 26.82 points, or 0.64%, to 4,158.65 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 167.18 points, or 1.19%, to 13,885.17.
"The market has had a huge jump to the upside so it needs to take a little bit of rest," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
"For now it's just a little bit of profit-taking as traders await results from big tech names on Wall Street."
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.07% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed 0.34%.
Emerging market stocks lost 0.01%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.09% higher, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.01%.
The dollar fell against a basket of peers on the back of the sharp drop in Treasury yields last week.
"Indeed, the USD rally is all but distant memory by now and the currency's underperformance seems to reflect the apparent divergence in the outlook between the slumping UST yields and the rather perky bond yields elsewhere," said Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX research at Credit Agricole.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.57%, with the euro EUR= up 0.43% to $1.2034.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.60% versus the greenback at 108.10 per dollar, while sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.3986, up 1.13% on the day.
Treasury yields rose after last week's sharp drop. Investors were watching to gauge the market's appetite for $24 billion of 20-year bonds scheduled to be auctioned on Wednesday, said Justin Lederer, Cantor Fitzgerald Treasury analyst.
"It still feels like we're trying to establish a range here," Lederer said.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 8/32 in price to yield 1.6011%.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.4% to $1,770.04 an ounce. Silver XAG= fell 0.73% to $25.77.
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP last fell 1.65% to $55,352.59. Oil prices edged up, but rising COVID-19 infections in India prompted concern than stronger measures to contain the pandemic would hurt economic activity.
A recent surge in COVID-19 cases could see major parts of Japan slide back into states of emergency, with authorities in Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs.
"The primary hazard to continued oil price strength is the possible re-emergence of COVID-19 case counts on a broad scale," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates.
U.S. crude CLc1 rose 0.4% to $63.38 per barrel and Brent LCOc1 was at $67.02, up 0.37% on the day.
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