US stocks fall for 6th straight session
US stocks closed lower on Tuesday with higher election uncertainty undermining market sentiment as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s lead in polls over Republican Donald Trump narrowed. The dollar fell ahead of Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, closed 0.65% lower at 97.736. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 0.6% to 18037.10.
Financials shares lead European stocks lower
European stocks ended lower on Tuesday led by financial stocks as earnings reports continued to disappoint investors while political uncertainty in US causes more caution ahead of presidential elections next week. Both the euro and British Pound rose against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1.1%. The DAX 30 fell 1.3% to 10526.16. France’s CAC 40 lost 0.9% while UK’s FTSE 100 closed 0.5% lower at 6917.14 helped by 4% jump in Royal Dutch Shell shares after the oil major swung to a third-quarter profit from a year earlier.
Asian stocks follow Wall Street’s lead lower
Asian stocks are retreating today after an overnight ABC News-Washington Post tracking poll showed Trump had gained a one-point advantage over Democrat Hillary Clinton, leading 46% to 45%. Investors are concerned as Trump has repeatedly promised to adopt a more protectionist approach to global trade. The Shanghai Composite Index is 0.6% lower and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is down 1.4%. Nikkei fell 1.8% to a two-week low at 17134.68 today as yen grew stronger on waning risk appetite. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index fell 1.2% with Australian dollar weakening against the dollar.
Oil prices retreat on surprise US inventory build
Oil futures prices are extending losses today after the American Petroleum Institute industry group reported US inventories rose by 9.3 million barrels last week. Prices are under pressure as hopes fade major oil producers can agree on production quotas by November 30 OPEC summit to implement a preliminary September deal to limit production to 32.5 - 33 millions barrels a day. Goldman Sachs warned crude oil prices could fall more than 10% as Russian and overall OPEC production has continued to rise with no clear commitment from Russia, the world’s largest non-OPEC producer and Iran, Libya and Nigeria lobbying to be exempt from a production freeze or cut. Today at 16:30 CET Crude Oil Inventories will be released by the Energy Information Administration.