Beginning the week dampened by US-Iranian tensions, the Dow Jones wasn’t allowed to bounce back on Tuesday, as it had the wind taken out of its sails by a PMI induced climb by the dollar.
The mood elsewhere was flat. European indices enjoyed some resurgence, but this was largely overshadowed by oil uncertainty and the very real threat of further escalation between the US and Iran.
Speaking on today’s updates, Spreadex Financial Analyst Connor Campbell stated,
“Europe’s morning rebound lost some of its shine in the face of the resumption of losses across the pond.”
“Though there is no doubt a lingering undercurrent of uncertainty regarding the situation between the US and Iran softening up the Dow Jones, the fact the dollar got a PMI-boost appeared to be the main catalyst for the index’s losses.”
“An ISM services reading of 55.0, against the 54.5 expected and 53.9 seen last month, allowed the greenback to climb 0.4% against the pound and 0.5% against the euro. In turn the Dow dropped 110 points, causing the index to sink back towards 28600 – still, however, 200 points above Monday’s lows.”
“As mentioned, this took some of the shine off the European indices, with the impact varied across the region. The DAX rose 0.8%, against the 1% climb seen early after the bell, while the CAC lost all of its 0.7% growth to sit flat just above 6000.”
“The FTSE was pretty much in line with where it was at the open, up 0.1% as the gains main in many of its sectors were somewhat undermined by the mini-retreat from BP (LON: BP) and Shell (LON: RDSA) following on from Brent Crude’s own 1% fall.”
Elsewhere in oil, Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) purchased two assets from BP and Lekoil Ltd (LON:LEK) made two new personnel appointments.
