- Post a comment
- Skip to the latest comment
- Back to the blog
Many of the world's major stock markets ventured alone on Friday without the benefit of the United States, still the biggest source of information for investors who are trying to gauge the health of the global economy.
The U.S. stock market was closed for Independence Day.
In Europe, the U.K.s' FTSE 100 fell 0.8 per cent and Germany's DAX index fell 0.7 per cent in afternoon trading. Assuming markets stay relatively even from here, Europe is on track to record its fifth straight week of losses. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.2 per cent – bringing the consecutive losing streak to 12 days.
Much of the volatility overseas appears to be related to stubbornly high oil prices, which are affecting earnings estimates and taking the wind out of energy-sensitive stocks such as airlines.
As well, it didn't help that Goldman Sachs weighed in with another estimate on banks, suggesting that European banks in particular will have to raise another $141-billion to restore their Tier 1 capital ratios, a measure of financial strength. Deutsche Bank AG fell 2.2 per cent and HSBC Holdings PLC fell 2.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, the price of crude oil dipped slightly, trading at $144.38 (U.S.), down 91 cents. Iran appears to be warming to the idea of suspending its uranium enrichment program in exchange for an incentives package, potentially removing the threat of an attack on its nuclear facilities by Israel – one of the big doomsday scenarios for the price of oil.
Join the Conversation, Leave a Comment
This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?
You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!
Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.
Alert us about this comment
Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.
Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.
