Intel stock spikes after report of possible US government stake
(Adds U.S. market open, byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
* Report says Trump sought Ukraine's help in 2020 election
* Whistleblower alleges Trump sought foreign meddling
* Wall Street drops as political woes outweigh trade
optimism
* Dollar eases after big jump Wednesday, euro rebounds
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks and government
debt yields fell on Thursday after the release of a
whistleblower complaint that accused President Donald Trump of
pressing Ukraine to investigate one of his main political rivals
in next year's U.S. presidential election.
Yields on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note
US10YT=RR fell below 1.7% and stocks on Wall Street slid,
leading a gauge of equity performance around the globe to pare
gains and trade little changed.
European shares remained solidly in the black after the
Chinese commerce ministry said the United States and China were
making preparations to ensure "positive progress" is made during
the next round of trade negotiations. But traders were closely watching a congressional hearing at
which the acting director of U.S. national intelligence, Joseph
Maguire, testified about the whistleblower report after refusing
for weeks to share the report with Congress. Concerns about the whistleblower complaint triggered the
rally in U.S. Treasury bonds, said Justin Lederer, Treasury
analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
The price of benchmark 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR
rose 10/32 in price to push their yield down to 1.6973%.
"The transcript of his call released yesterday did not seem
to have anything specific that Trump said, 'do this for that,'"
Lederer said.
"The whistleblower complaint looks like there was more to
it, but I don't know. Overall, it's just the idea that markets
don't like uncertainty," he added.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
0.01% while the pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose
0.69%.
On Wall Street, The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
47.27 points, or 0.18%, to 26,923.44. The S&P 500 .SPX lost
8.46 points, or 0.28%, to 2,976.41 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 39.39 points, or 0.49%, to 8,037.99.
Facebook Inc FB.O slipped 1.4% as a person familiar with
the matter told Reuters that the U.S. Justice Department will
open an antitrust investigation of the social media company.
The dollar edged lower against the euro, giving up some of
the sizeable gains from the previous session, as the common
currency recovered a little after sinking to a 28-month low amid
an increasingly bleak euro zone economic outlook. Increased political tensions on both sides of the Atlantic -
the unfolding effort by U.S. congressional Democrats to impeach
Trump and ongoing uncertainty regarding Britain's exit from the
European Union - was likely to keep the greenback in demand,
analysts said.
The dollar index .DXY fell 0.03%, with the euro EUR= up
0.04% to $1.0945. The Japanese yen JPY= strengthened 0.12%
versus the greenback at 107.67 per dollar.
Crude prices fell for a third straight day as Saudi Arabia's
moves to restore output quickly after attacks on its oil
installations promised yet more oil supply. Brent crude LCOc1 futures were down 52 cents at $61.87 a
barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures
CLc1 fell 72 cents to $55.77 a barrel.
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