S&P 500 falls on pressure from retail stocks, weak jobless claims
* Hopes for monetary easing lifts China's shares
* World stocks flatline near record highs, in best year
since 2009
* Trade deal lifted Wall Street to record closing high
* Pound flat below $1.30 vs post-election high above $1.35
(There will be no London-based Global Markets report on Dec 25
and 26 due to the Christmas holiday)
By Sujata Rao
LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - World stocks flatlined near
record highs on Tuesday and remained on track for their best
year in a decade, as China's latest policy easing pledges added
to the optimism generated by signs of detente in the 17-month
long Sino-U.S. trade war.
Blue-chip shares in China .CSI300 rose 0.7% after Premier
Li Keqiang said the government was considering more measures to
lower corporate financing costs and hinted at "targeted" cuts
in banks' reserve requirement ratio. Beijing also on Monday announced plans to remove import
tarriffs on a range of goods next year. However, lingering trade concerns and the recent run of
gains kept most bourses under pressure, with Korean shares
weakening 0.7%, pressured by Monday's data that showed exports
in the first 20 days of the month had fallen again.
MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was likewise flat while its all-country
benchmark was unchanged, having added 3% this month and 24%
since the start of 2019 .MIWD00000PUS .
A pan-European equity index .STOXX also hovered near
record highs though many continental markets were closed for
Christmas and others saw thin trading volumes .STOXX .
"It's been a strong run up to Christmas for stock markets
and it seems traders are taking a little breather in this
shortened trading week," said Craig Erlam, an analyst at online
broker OANDA.
"It's been a good few weeks for investors, spurred primarily
by the de-escalation in the trade war, with Trump only this
weekend claiming it will be signed very shortly."
He was referring to comments by President Donald Trump on
Saturday, which spurred Wall Street to new all-time highs on
Monday. The S&P 500 hit its eighth straight intraday record
.SPX .
New York was also lifted by a 3% surge in Boeing which
sacked CEO Dennis Muilenberg over the crisis surrounding its 737
MAX jetliner that followed two fatal crashes. Equity futures hinted at a flat to firmer open for Wall
Street ESc1 YMc1 .
STELLAR YEAR BUT WHAT NEXT
World markets are heading into the end of a stellar year,
with most major asset classes, from emerging market bonds to
U.S. tech shares, enjoying robust returns.
But uncertainty remains on how long the trade truce will
last as Trump kicks off his re-election campaign next year.
Worries have also resurfaced about how Britain will navigate
the transition period for its exit from the European Union.
Those concerns pushed sterling to a near four-week low versus
the euro and a three-week trough against the dollar EURGBP=D3
GBP=D3 .
The pound was flat at $1.2927 versus highs above $1.35 after
the Dec. 12 general election. Against the euro it was at 85.720
pence, coming off the Dec. 13 highs of 82.780 pence.
"Risks to the outlook receded this year, which supported
financial markets, but we cannot say the same thing about next
year," said Hiroshi Miyazaki, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ
Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo.
Euro zone bond markets were shut but 10-year U.S. Treasury
yields slipped one basis point to 1.926% after Monday's slight
rise following lacklustre demand for two-year bills at auction
Another bond auction is due on Tuesday.
However, yields have risen more than 20 basis points off the
1.69% levels of early December, lifted by the equity rally and
signs the U.S. Federal Reserve has paused its rate-cutting
cycle.
In Japan, two-year bond yields hit 16-month highs after the
message from the minutes of the Bank of Japan's meeting prompted
money markets to erase rate cut expectations. Brent oil futures ticked up 0.2% after Russia's energy
minister said cooperation with OPEC to support prices would
continue. U.S. crude inventory data, due on Tuesday, is also
forecast to show a second straight weekly decline. O/R
World stocks pile on more that $10 trillion in 2019 https://tmsnrt.rs/2PIlIJT
Global markets in 2019 https://tmsnrt.rs/2Q4zTYN
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