Global Stocks Waver as Gold and Bitcoin Soar
25 June 2019 - 8:49PM
Dow Jones News
By Will Horner -- U.S. stock futures fell and Treasury yields neared 2%
-- Gold rallied and government bond yields slipped
-- Bitcoin reached a one-year high and gold rallied to record
for the year
European stocks followed Asian indexes marginally lower Tuesday
as investors turned to haven assets such as Treasurys and gold.
U.K. stocks were among the worst performers in Europe, with the
FTSE 100 sliding 0.2% on a day that saw the benchmark Stoxx Europe
600 index largely unchanged. One of the few bright spots for
investors was in Capgemini and smaller rival Altran Technologies:
the stocks soared after the French companies agreed to merge,
sending Altran shares up almost 22% while Capgemini advanced
7.5%.
Meanwhile, gold prices jumped 1.1% to their highest level this
year before trading at $1433.40 a troy ounce. The precious metal
has gained 13% so far in 2019.
Bitcoin also extended its gains, reaching a record for the past
year as it again crossed the $11,000 threshold. The world's most
popular cryptocurrency has soared 35% this month, boosted in part
by the unveiling of Facebook Inc.'s Libra digital currency for
mainstream users last week.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.4%, the Hang Seng in Hong
Kong slipped 1.2% and China's benchmark Shanghai composite fell
0.9%.
Assets perceived by investors to be safer stores of wealth
strengthened, with U.S. government bonds and gold both rising.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which falls as the
price rises, dipped to 2.014%, from 2.021% on Monday. Gold prices
climbed 1.1% to $1,435.05 a troy ounce.
U.S. stock futures were also lower following a quiet session
Monday. Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were
both down 0.2%.
Investors this week have largely held back from making big moves
as their focus has shifted to the G-20 summit in Japan due to begin
on Friday. A planned meeting between President Trump and Chinese
President Xi Jinping at the summit is seen as a potentially crucial
moment in the trade dispute between the two nations. The skirmish
has roiled markets this year and threatened to further weaken the
global economy, which has already shown signs of flagging after a
long period of expansion.
"Prudence is still justified because obviously the bar is quite
high for a truce between the U.S. and China on tariffs at this
week's G-20," said Kenneth Broux, a senior strategist at Société
Générale . "The danger is of course that everything ends in
acrimony and the whole moves of the past week or so reverse if the
U.S. decides to raise tariffs to 25% on the remaining $300 billion
[of Chinese goods]."
The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket
of its peers, was broadly flat.
Elsewhere in commodities, oil prices were mixed with global
benchmark Brent crude shedding 0.2% to $64.07 a barrel, while U.S.
benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 0.1% at $57.95.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2019 06:34 ET (10:34 GMT)
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