Trump/Cook, Nissan weakness, more tariffs and gold - what’s moving markets
* MSCI ACWI gains, still set for weekly fall
* Crude choppy after Trump says U.S. Navy destroys Iranian
drone
* Dollar recovers as dovish Fed comments walked back
(Updates with open of U.S. markets, changes dateline; previous
LONDON)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, July 19 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks
climbed on Friday as investors expect an aggressively dovish
U.S. Federal Reserve at its next meeting and as early returns on
earnings season have been better than anticipated.
On Wall Street, major indexes moved higher in early trading,
buoyed by a gain of 1.92% in Microsoft MSFT.O as quarterly
results topped expectations, powered by its cloud business.
Stocks are getting some follow-through to the positive side
following Thursday's late rally after two influential Federal
Reserve officials - New York Fed President John Williams and Fed
Board of Governors Vice Chair Richard Clarida - laid out the
case for quick action by the central bank to support the U.S.
economy. However, Williams' comments were later walked back, with the
New York Fed saying the speech was not about potential action at
the upcoming meeting.
That dialed back expectations to about 43 percent for a rate
cut of half a percentage point at the Fed's July 30-31 meeting,
according to CME's FedWatch tool. Markets see it as a certainty
the Fed will cut rates by at least a quarter of a percentage
point at the meeting. "Some optimism is being carried forward from New York Fed
President John Williams' comments and largely
better-than-expected corporate earnings so far, highlighted by
Microsoft," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National
Securities in New York.
Earnings expectations for the S&P 500 have been trending
upward recently and show growth of 1% for the second quarter,
according to Refinitiv data. As recently as Tuesday, earnings
were expected to show a decline for the quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 65.54 points,
or 0.24%, to 27,288.51, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3.81 points,
or 0.13%, to 2,998.92 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
21.07 points, or 0.26%, to 8,228.31.
European shares were little changed, having given up early
gains of as much as 0.7%, as political turmoil weighed on
Italian stocks after Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo
Salvini said he would meet coalition partner and leader of the
5-Star Movement Luigi Di Maio amid speculation that the
increasingly unwieldy government might collapse.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.03 and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained
0.33%.
Despite Friday's advance, MSCI's index was poised to snap a
six-week streak of gains.
The walk back in the dovish Fed comments helped the dollar
recover from declines in the prior session, while the euro
weakened as expectations of a rate cut by the European Central
Bank as early as next week picked up steam. The dollar index .DXY rose 0.33%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.51% to $1.1217.
In oil markets, crude retreated after climbing roughly 2%
after the United States said its navy had destroyed an Iranian
drone in the Strait of Hormuz, a major choke-point for global
crude flows, raising concerns about supply disruptions out of
the region. Prices pulled back, however, with Brent prices on track for
their biggest weekly decline of the year and U.S. crude on pace
for its biggest weekly drop in two months.
U.S. crude CLcv1 fell 0.09% to $55.25 per barrel and Brent
LCOcv1 was last at $62.13, up 0.32% on the day.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Global assets in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>