U.S. stocks closed lower on Tuesday as worries about corporate earnings falling short of expectations unnerved investors.
Disappointing expectations from Cummins (CMI, Fortune 500) also dragged on markets, as the engine maker’s stock fell 9% after it slashed its sales forecast for the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 83 points, or 0.7%, the S&P 500 fell 11 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq shed 29 points, or 1%.
The European markets bounced back on Tuesday FTSE 100 added 0.7%, the DAX gained 0.8% and CAC 40 rose 0.6% after Eurozone finance ministers agreed to offer Spain 30 billion euros at Monday’s meeting in Brussels.
An unexpected increase in U.K. industrial production and manufacturing output also provided a boost to the markets.
Barring Shanghai & Taiwan, which are trading marginally higher by 0.2% & 0.1% respectively, all the other Asian indices are trading on a weak note. The Hang Seng & Nikkei are down by 0.1% & 0.4% respectively, while Strait Times & Kospi are trading lower by 0.2% & 0.3% respectively.
Euro Dollar:
EURUSD (1.2255) The euro hit its lowest level against the dollar in two years on Tuesday as technical selling and overall bearish sentiment had investors selling the euro zone common currency.
The Great British Pound
GBPUSD (1.5520) rose after a surprise jump in industrial production and manufacturing outputs. The GBP added a few pips against a very strong USD, which is trading currently at 83.45.
Asian –Pacific Currency
USDJPY (79.39) the yen dollar continues in the tight range centered around the 79.70 level. Investors are waiting for the reading of the FOMC minutes later today and the beginning of the 2 day BoJ meetings.
Gold
Gold (1573.85) continues to wander without direction, on a slow downward trend, retracting moves before the recent surge of risk aversion. Markets might react today to the FOMC minutes and the hopes of Fed stimulus
Crude Oil
Crude Oil (84.01) as the Norwegian oil strike is ended by the courts and rhetoric from Iran dissipates market tensions are reduced and oil has begun to move back to the 80.00 price level. Investors await this weeks inventory hoping to see a decline in stocks. The API report earlier this week forecast a drop of 1 million barrels
