Key US and European stock indexes slipped modestly yesterday, a day after US equities hit record peaks, amid soft US economic data that also tempered expectations of a near-term interest rate hike and weighed on the dollar and Treasury yields.
European stocks edged modestly lower after earlier setting a fresh seven-week high with weakness in mining shares offsetting a surge in A.P. Moller-Maersk after its earnings. The weaker dollar helped lift oil prices a day after a huge spike in crude.
US retail sales were unexpectedly flat in July as Americans cut back on purchases of clothing and other goods, while other data showed producer prices recorded their biggest drop in nearly a year in July.
“The retail sales number was not robust, giving a little bit more reason to question the direction of the economy again,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“By and large, the news today was just a little bit blah, so there’s no reason to commit a lot of money to the stock market on a summer Friday.”
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.98 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 18,583.54, the S&P 500 lost 1.23 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,184.56 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.32 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 5,226.08.
All three indexes closed at record highs on Thursday, the first time they have done so simultaneously since 1999.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index edged down 0.13 per cent, but hovered around its highest point since late June.
Propped up by Asian markets, MSCI’s all-world stock index was little changed, lingering around year highs.
In the United States, cooling consumer spending and tame inflation suggest the Federal Reserve will probably not raise interest rates any time soon despite a robust labour market.
The dollar fell 0.3 per cent against a basket of currencies.
“The US retail sales data in particular is causing the dollar to weaken,” said Nick Bennenbroek, head of currency strategy at Wells Fargo Securities in New York.
“The soft US figure and its potential implications for Federal Reserve policy is probably going to be the most notable driver of the markets for the balance of today’s session.”
Benchmark US Treasury yields fell to their lowest level in nearly two weeks after the economic data, with 10-year Treasury notes rising 26/32 in price, to yield 1.4831 per cent.
Oil prices added to gains after rising more than four per cent on Thursday. A weaker dollar benefits the commodity, which is denominated in the US currency.
Benchmark Brent climbed 1.5 per cent to $46.72 a barrel, while US crude rose 1.9 per cent to $44.30 a barrel.