Markets slump after Wall Street tumble - 2.8.2024

The Dollar strengthening has halted today. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, ended 0.4% higher on Thursday.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their advancing yesterday while S&P Global final report confirmed Germany's manufacturing sector continued its downturn in July. Euro is higher against the dollar currently while Pound is lower. AUD/USD joined USD/JPY’s slowed retreating on Thursday with both the yen and Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently.

US stock index futures are lower currently ahead of July jobs market report due at 16:30 CET with the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes are down at 3.966%. The three main stock benchmarks closed down on Thursday recording daily losses in a range from -2.3% to -1.2% while the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index came weaker than expected for July.

European indexes futures are retreating today after stock indexes closed lower on Thursday led by bank shares as the Bank of England cut interest rates from a 16-year high. Asian stock indexes futures are falling today with Japan’s Nikkei leading losses as a rout in Japanese markets deepens after the Bank of Japan struck a hawkish chord at its meeting on Wednesday.

Brent is edging higher currently. Prices ended lower on Thursday while a meeting of top OPEC+ ministers kept oil output policy unchanged including a plan to gradually phase out cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day from October 2024 to September 2025. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 2.1% but are higher currently. Brent futures lost 1.6% to $79.52 a barrel on Thursday.