Oil prices retreated further yesterday amid a global glut, racking up a 20 per cent drop for November, while most major equity markets kept moves tight ahead of weekend talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
In Europe, Frankfurt's export-heavy DAX stock index and Britain’s domestic-focused FTSE 250 both faced a fourth consecutive month of declines.
The German index saw its worst run since late 2008, weighed by Deutsche Bank shares falling to an all-time low as police searched its headquarters for a second day in a money laundering scandal linked to the Panama Papers.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.10 per cent, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.17 per cent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15.34 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 25,323.5, the S&P 500 gained 5.69 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 2,743.45 and the Nasdaq Composite added 25.14 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 7,298.22.
November’s real humdingers have been oil and shares of Apple which have plunged 21 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, the biggest declines for both since the financial crisis a decade ago.
Swelling inventories depressed sentiment and oil prices, despite widespread expectations that Opec and Russia would agree on some form of production cut next week.
US crude fell 0.6 per cent to $51.14 per barrel and Brent was last at $58.68, down 1.39 per cent on the day.
Markets could have a wild December if Mr Trump and Mr Xi fail to de-escalate their trade rhetoric during talks at this weekend’s G20 meeting.
“People don’t want to get too optimistic heading into a meeting, because the (US) president is kind of a wild card,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
“You don’t know how tough he’ll be with this meeting and these negotiations.”
Data yesterday added to the anticipation, showing that growth in China's vast manufacturing sector had stalled this month for the first time in more than two years.
Mr Trump has sent mixed signals saying, “I think we’re very close to doing something with China but I don’t know that I want to do it,” because the money coming in from the tariffs he has imposed has been so lucrative.
The dollar rose as investors prepared for fallout from the talks, which are expected to increase volatility across markets.
The dollar index, tracking it against six major currencies, rose 0.39 per cent, with the euro down 0.61 per cent to $1.1321.