European shares opened higher, alongside U.S. Futures, but the bullish move was short-lived as most benchmarks pared gains minutes after, underlying the state of uncertainty still dominating stocks markets. President Trump’s delay on further tariff hikes against China had only a short-term positive effect on stocks as investors remain worried by signs of a looming recession in the bond market as showed a Treasury Yield-curve inversion. The veil of uncertainty surrounding markets combined with the low liquidity typical of August are making trading decisions particularly difficult this year.
Today’s data (U.S. Retail Sales + Philadelphia FED Manufacturing Index) is likely to be very important to traders: many will be hoping for reassuring numbers after the last round of disappointing numbers around the world. Investors will also take a close look at big corporations like Walmart and Alibaba as they will publish their quarterly results later in the day.
Photo by Absolutvision.
For now, European benchmarks are mixed. The only significant performance is that of the FTSE-MIB. The Italian index is down 2.5% due to political chaos un the country and with the decline led by the banking sector. Prices are trading slightly over the technical and psychological 20,000.0pts level where a break-out could lead the market to a deeper correction towards 19,850.0pts and 19,535.0pts by extension.
