Trade war concerns drag global markets

US stocks snapped three-week winning streak against the backdrop of rising Middle East tensions after the drone attack on Saudi Arabia major refinery last week. Trade war concerns took center stage gains as US and Chinese deputy negotiators conducted a two-day meeting in Washington, and Chinese delegation canceled its visit to US farming regions over the weekend. The SP 500, Dow and Nasdaq ended lower in another consolidation stretch, with SP500 losing 0.5%. The ICE US dollar index gained 0.2% as Federal Reserve cut its benchmark federal funds rate a quarter percentage point but signaled no further easing yet.

Only Nikkei out of six largest developed market indexes kept advancing last week. Hang Seng was the loss leader: it dropped 3.4%. Four out of six major currency pairs reversed previous week’s dynamics, and the range of major currency pairs’ weekly fluctuations widened while it shifted lower. The Australian dollar was the leader in terms of percentage change: it fell 1.7% against the US dollar.

Reports on euro-zone and US economic performance such as flash readings of German manufacturing and services PMIs today, and US durable goods orders Friday are the major events this week. And the Reserve Bank of New Zealand meets on Wednesday, with no policy change expected.