(Bloomberg) — U.S. stock futures fluctuated and Asian stocks drifted at the open after a dip on Wall Street on Friday. The offshore yuan edged higher.
Equities started the week little changed in Australia and South Korea, while Japan’s equity market was shut. Currencies saw small moves, with the dollar largely steady against its main G-10 peers. Cash Treasuries won’t trade until the London open because of the Japan holiday. Crude oil retreated.
As U.S.-China tensions linger, President Donald Trump said he’s approved Oracle Corp.’s bid for the U.S. operations of TikTok “in concept.” The Trump administration’s curbs on WeChat were put on hold by a judge, upending an effort to halt use of the Chinese-owned app in the U.S.
Investors remain watchful for any signs of progress on a U.S. fiscal stimulus package, while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will testify before Congress from Tuesday to Thursday to discuss pandemic relief efforts. Covid-19 cases in the U.S. steadied as deaths approached 200,000 and over in the U.K., the Health Secretary said the country is at a “tipping point.”
“We do have concerns down the stretch about the markets reacting poorly to some of the uncertainties facing us — the election, potentially around Covid-19, and the fact that we don’t have a stimulus package yet,” Rebecca Felton, senior market strategist at Riverfront Investment Group, said on Bloomberg TV. “I would have to think we could be volatile to the downside here.”
Elsewhere, the European Central Bank has launched a review of its pandemic bond-buying program to consider how long it should continue and whether its exceptional flexibility should be extended to older programs, the Financial Times reported.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures slid 0.1% as of 10:06 a.m. in Sydney. The gauge on Friday fell 1.1%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was flat.South Korea’s Kospi index was little changed.Hang Seng Index futures on Friday lost 0.4%.
Currencies
The yen was at 104.56 per dollar, little changed.The offshore yuan traded at 6.7692 per dollar, up 0.2%.The euro bought $1.1843, little changed.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries ended Friday little changed at 0.69%.Australia’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.87%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.8% to $40.78 a barrel.Gold was at $1,950 an ounce.
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