To The Moon

US stocks fall on interest rate worries

· The US stock market fell on Monday as investors remain fixated on the Federal Reserve’s next move.

· The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 36 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1%.

· Concerns that borrowing costs may still have further to rise were stirred on Monday after Raphael Bostic, president of the Fed’s Atlanta branch, said the January jobs report could lead to a higher peak in interest rates.

· Bostic’s warning on Monday afternoon prompted a sell-off in US government bonds to pick up steam. The rate-sensitive two-year Treasury yield was up 0.19 percentage points to 4.49%, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 0.12 percentage point to 3.65%.

· In Europe, the region wide Stoxx 600 fell 0.8%, as did Germany’s Dax, with sentiment also eroded by weak December eurozone retail sales figures. London’s FTSE 100, which last week hit a record high, fell 0.8%.

· Most Asian equities declined on Monday as a rally in January for Chinese equities fizzled out and heightened US-China tensions deflated sentiment. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2%, while China’s CSI 300 shed 1.3%.

· Singapore shares begin week with meagre gains, with the Straits Times Index largely flat, inching up just 0.1 per cent to end at 3,385.93.

@TigerStars 

DYODD