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Olivier Douliery / Pool via Reuters
- Stock futures point to a lower open in US indices later, while the dollar rises after a “chaotic” televised debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
- The debate did not help ease investor concern over the choice or its outcome, sparking risk aversion and hitting industrial commodities and equities.
- Pound under pressure against the euro, yen and dollar after data shows the UK economy officially entered recession with the worst contraction on record in the second quarter.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
US equities futures fell on Wednesday, under pressure from renewed uncertainty about the November election outcome, following what experts called a “chaotic” presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden during the night.
The dollar stabilized, rising 0.13%, recovering some losses from the previous day, when a profit-taking drive sent the dollar index down 0.4%, its biggest one-day selloff in a month. Futures on the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 were down 0.5-0.7%.
In Europe, major indices took the lead from weakness in US markets, rather than the modest show of strength in Asia from Chinese manufacturing data that showed manufacturing activity in the world’s largest economy continues to rebound .
“Equity markets in Asia are largely positive on China’s manufacturing data, but US index futures have fallen lower in recent hours due to the first US presidential debate,” said the market strategist. by CMC David Madden.
“The event was described by some as ‘chaotic’ as both candidates were regularly interrupted,” he said.
Read more: UBS says the chances of a Democratic sweep have risen to 50% when Trump and Biden meet in their first debate. These 9 assets will help investors make a profit if a blue wave occurs.
Meanwhile, a private survey of Chinese manufacturing showed that factory activity continued to expand in September. The Caixin survey came in at 53, versus estimates of 53.1, while the official manufacturing purchasing managers index for September was 51.5, up from August 51, and versus a forecast of 51, two.
Despite signs of improvement in the Chinese economy, banks, airlines and travel stocks were among the furthest behind in early European trade. London-listed low-cost carrier EasyJet was down 1.4%, while German carrier Lufthansa was down 1.1%. The FTSE 100 was practically flat, while the DAX in Frankfurt fell 0.1% and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.4%.
Overnight, the Hang Seng was up 0.9%, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1% and the Seoul KOSPI was up 0.8%.
The pound fell across the board following data confirming that the British economy entered a recession in the second quarter of this year, although the contraction was not as bad as initially thought.
Against the dollar and the yen, the British pound fell 0.4%. The euro gained 0.2% against the pound, but fell 0.2% against the dollar.
“It is not clear that the presidential debate will have a great influence on the markets throughout Wednesday. It has been described as the worst debate in history and most will probably agree that it will not have turned the dial in any direction.” said Jasper Lawler, strategist at London Capital Group. . “The moderate and indecisive American politicians are left with a difficult choice after those performances.”
Highlighting the bitterness in investors’ risk appetite was the widespread decline in commodities, which tend to benefit from a weaker dollar. Silver lost more than 2% on the day to trade around $ 23.90 an ounce, while nickel, which is used predominantly in stainless steel, fell 0.8% to $ 14,340 a tonne on the Metal Exchange. From london.
Crude oil was under pressure, with Brent crude futures falling 0.6% to $ 41.43 a barrel, while WTI futures fell 0.5% to $ 39.11 a barrel. With the increase in Covid-19 cases fueling concern over more movement restrictions and limited air travel, oil prices are struggling to advance past $ 40 in Brent and $ 39 in WTI, with both contracts scheduled to a decrease of about 8% this month.
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