Wall Street divided Monday, techs gains, industrials flounder

Lola Evans
21 Oct 2024

NEW YORK, New York - An escalation of Israel's offensives in Gaza and Lebanon over the weekend, and continuing into Monday, undermined global stock markets Monday, together with uncertainty over the U.S. elections.

"Between the combination of escalating or still-high Middle East tensions, and we're only a handful of days away from the Nov. 5 U.S. election, it could be that the market is getting nervous ahead of that and people are squaring some of their positions," Wasif Latif, president and chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners told Reuters Monday.

S&P 500: The benchmark index declined by 10.69 points, or 0.18 percent, closing at 5,853.98. Investors remain cautious as markets adjust to signals from the Federal Reserve about future rate CUTS.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: The Dow slipped 344.31 points, or 0.80 percent, to 42,931.60, with major industrial stocks leading the losses amid global economic uncertainties.

NASDAQ Composite: In contrast, the technology-heavy NASDAQ gained 50.45 points, or 0.27 percent, closing at 18,540.01. The sector saw support from strong earnings reports and investor optimism about the tech industry's resilience.

Trading volume remained strong across the major markets, with the NASDAQ seeing the highest activity at 5.489 billion shares. The Dow recorded 269.525 million shares traded, while the S&P 500 saw 2.064 billion shares change hands.

Foreign Exchange Market Update: U.S. Dollar Gains Against Key Currencies Monday Amid Global Volatility

The U.S. dollar extended its gains across key currency pairs on Monday. Several currencies fell in response, with the euro and British pound seeing notable declines against the dollar. The US Dollar Index increased by 0.50 points, or 0.49 percent, to 104.00.

USD/JPY: The dollar surged 0.86 percent to 150.73, adding 1.29, reflecting strength against the yen amid Japan's persistent dovish pronouncements.
USD/CAD: The U.S. dollar edged up 0.27 percent to 1.3833, maintaining parity in the session as oil prices provided some support to the Canadian dollar.
EUR/USD: The euro slipped 0.47 percent to 1.0814, losing 0.01 from the previous session, as concerns over Europe's economic outlook weighed on sentiment.
The British pound weakened against the dollar, marking a volatile start to the week: GBP/USD: The pound declined 0.49 percent to 1.2982, as market participants speculated on interest rate cuts in the U.K. next year.

In other major currency moves:

USD/CHF: The dollar climbed 0.21 percent to 0.8658, as safe-haven flows favored the Swiss franc.
AUD/USD: The Australian dollar dipped 0.64 percent to 0.6658, largely impacted by slowing Chinese economic data and weaker commodity prices.
NZD/USD: The New Zealand dollar fell 0.61 percent to 0.6031, reflecting subdued market sentiment in the Asia-Pacific region.

The U.S. dollar showed resilience across the board Monday, with gains attributed to investor confidence in the Federal Reserve's policy path and safe-haven demand amid geopolitical risks.

Global Markets See Mixed Performance Monday as Asian Indices Surge, European and U.S. Markets Dip

The global stock markets ended with mixed results on Monday, as positive gains in most Asian markets were overshadowed by significant losses across Europe. The U.S. Dollar Index showed strength, while several major European indices registered declines.

CANADA

In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite Index closed lower:

The index fell by 99.21 points, or 0.40 percent, to 24,723.33, as energy and financial sectors faced pressure. In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index registered 215.635 million shares in turnover.

UNITED KINGDOM

FTSE 100 in London fell by 40.01 points, or 0.48 percent, to close at 8,318.24.

EUROPE

DAX PERFORMANCE-INDEX in Germany dropped 196.18 points, or 1.00 percent, to 19,461.19.
CAC 40 in France decreased 76.82 points, or 1.01 percent, finishing at 7,536.23.
ESTX 50 PR.EUR lost 45.05 points, or 0.90 percent, settling at 4,941.22.
Euronext 100 Index dropped 8.91 points Monday, or 0.60 percent, to close at 1,483.99.
BEL 20 declined 28.17 points, or 0.65 percent, closing at 4,295.82.

ASIA

S&P BSE SENSEX dipped 73.48 points, or 0.09 percent, to 81,151.27.
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 0.31 points, or 0.02 percent, ending at 1,645.68.
SSE Composite Index in China managed to gain 6.55 points, or 0.20 percent, to 3,268.11.
Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped by 27.15 points Monday, or 0.07 percent, to 38,954.60.
KOSPI Composite Index climbed 11.10 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,604.92.
TSEC Weighted Index added 55.26 points, or 0.24 percent, to 23,542.53.
S&P BSE SENSEX dipped 73.48 points, or 0.09 percent, to 81,151.27.
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 0.31 points, or 0.02 percent, ending at 1,645.68.

OCEANIA

S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 61.20 points, or 0.74 percent Monday, to 8,344.40.
ALL ORDINARIES increased by 52.90 points, or 0.62 percent, to 8,604.10.
S&P/NZX 50 INDEX in New Zealand gained 99.33 points, or 0.77 percent, finishing at 12,923.22.

MIDDLE EAST

EGX 30 Price Return Index in Egypt surged by 916.40 points, or 3.10 percent, to 30,445.20, marking the day's highest performance.
In Israel the TA125 TATA-125 fell 4.97 points or 0.23 percent to close Monday at 2,172.29.

AFRICA

South Africa's Top 40 USD Net TRI Index dropped 22.73 points, or 0.47 percent, to 4,820.66.