Overseas Market Report
Chinese President Xi Jinping offered no fresh policies to stimulate the world’s second-biggest economy in a keynote speech to mark the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s “Reform and Opening Up”.
The benchmark S&P 500 stock index has ended little changed in a choppy trading session on Tuesday as the possibility of a partial US government shutdown raised investor jitters ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Industrials and the Nasdaq posted slight gains, however, as shares of Boeing Co and the group of internet-focused momentum stocks known as FAANG rose. The S&P 500 had risen as much as 1.1 per cent earlier in the session but gave up most of its gains after US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats had rejected his spending bill proposal. Without the passage of a spending bill, several government agencies are at risk of a shutdown.
The benchmark index briefly turned negative in intraday trading to fall below Monday’s levels. On Monday, the S&P 500 ended at a 14-month low. S&P 500 energy stocks led the declines, falling 2.4 per cent. US crude prices tumbled more than 7 per cent on concerns of oversupply.
In addition to the looming government shutdown threat, investors prepared for the outcome of the two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which began on Tuesday. Market participants widely expect the Fed to raise benchmark US rates this month, but some investors anticipate that the US central bank will indicate fewer rate hikes for 2019 than previously expected.
Traders in the options market continued to expect increased stock market volatility in coming days. The Cboe Volatility Index, the most widely followed gauge of expected near-term gyrations for the S&P 500, finished up 1.06 points at 25.58, its highest close in 10 months.
Morning-Market-Note-Wednesday-19th-December