* Reuters Live Markets blog: LIVE/
(Updates prices, changes comment, dateline; previous LONDON)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) - An index of stocks across the
world dipped on Monday by what would be the largest daily drop
in almost four weeks, after earlier touching a record high, with
investors looking for earnings to justify the high valuations.
The U.S. dollar index touched a more than 6-week low and
Treasury yields edged up after posting on Friday their largest
weekly drop since June and oil prices slipped on concerns over
rising coronavirus cases globally.
On Wall Street indexes fell, with Nasdaq the biggest
decliner. Tesla shares fell following a fatal car crash.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 166.76 points,
or 0.49%, to 34,033.91, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 26.82 points, or
0.64%, to 4,158.65 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
167.18 points, or 1.19%, to 13,885.17.
"The market has had a huge jump to the upside so it needs to
take a little bit of rest," said Peter Cardillo, chief market
economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
"For now it's just a little bit of profit-taking as traders
await results from big tech names on Wall Street."
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.07% and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
0.34%.
Emerging market stocks lost 0.01%. MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.09%
higher, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.01%.
The dollar fell against a basket of peers on the back of the
sharp drop in Treasury yields last week.
"Indeed, the USD rally is all but distant memory by now and
the currency's underperformance seems to reflect the apparent
divergence in the outlook between the slumping UST yields and
the rather perky bond yields elsewhere," said Valentin Marinov,
head of G10 FX research at Credit Agricole.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.57%, with the euro EUR= up
0.43% to $1.2034.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.60% versus the greenback at
108.10 per dollar, while sterling GBP= was last trading at
$1.3986, up 1.13% on the day.
Treasury yields rose after last week's sharp drop.
Investors were watching to gauge the market's appetite for
$24 billion of 20-year bonds scheduled to be auctioned on
Wednesday, said Justin Lederer, Cantor Fitzgerald Treasury
analyst.
"It still feels like we're trying to establish a range
here," Lederer said.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 8/32 in price
to yield 1.6011%.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.4% to $1,770.04 an ounce. Silver
XAG= fell 0.73% to $25.77.
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP last fell 1.65% to $55,352.59.
Oil prices edged up, but rising COVID-19 infections in India
prompted concern than stronger measures to contain the pandemic
would hurt economic activity. A recent surge in COVID-19 cases could see major parts of
Japan slide back into states of emergency, with authorities in
Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs. "The primary hazard to continued oil price strength is the
possible re-emergence of COVID-19 case counts on a broad scale,"
said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates.
U.S. crude CLc1 rose 0.4% to $63.38 per barrel and Brent
LCOc1 was at $67.02, up 0.37% on the day.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
Global asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>