SF: S&P 500 Retreats From Record as Crude Oil Falls With Treasuries
May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks slipped, pulling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down from a record, while oil declined for a third day. The yen pared losses after sliding beyond 102 per dollar for the first time since October 2008.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent after the measure closed at a record high last week, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2 percent at 9:32 a.m. in New York. The yen weakened 0.1 percent to 101.93 a dollar after earlier dropping to 102.15. The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 1.92 percent. Italian 10-year bonds fell, with yields climbing seven basis points to 3.96 percent, as the government sold 8 billion euros ($10.4 billion) of debt. Oil retreated 0.8 percent and gold futures declined 0.3 percent.
U.S. retail sales gained 0.1 percent in April, the Commerce Department said today, after Chinese data showed fixed-asset investment unexpectedly decelerated last month while industrial output trailed estimates. Group of Seven policy makers said after meeting in the U.K that they examined Japan’s stimulus strategy and that they will monitor its impact on currencies.
“We’ve been thinking about a correction for a while,” Joost van Leenders, who helps oversee $657 billion as a strategist at BNP Paribas Investment Partners in Amsterdam, said by phone today. “So much of the market is driven by liquidity rather than economies. And we haven’t seen it.”
Commerzbank Falls
The Stoxx 600 retreated from the highest level since June 2008, with trading volume 13 percent less than the 30-day average. Commerzbank AG slid 4.8 percent after Handelsblatt said Germany’s second-biggest lender will sell new shares this week. Standard Chartered Plc dropped 3.3 percent as Carson Block, the short seller who runs Muddy Waters LLC, said he’s betting against the bank’s debt.
Lonmin Plc rallied 2.2 percent as the third-largest platinum producer returned to profit in the fiscal first half after sales increased.
The S&P 500 pared last week’s 1.2 percent advance. The increase in retail sales followed a 0.5 percent drop in March, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.3 percent drop.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell for a third day, dropping 0.7 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies slid 2.1 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2 percent. India’s Sensex sank 2.1 percent after a 10 percent rally from this year’s low on April 9 sent the gauge to the highest level since January and a report showed the trade deficit widened.
Pakistan Elections
Pakistan’s KSE 100 Index jumped 1.7 percent to a record as unofficial election results showed a party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif winning the most seats in parliament.
The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities retreated 0.4 percent, falling for a second day. Gold for June delivery dropped to $1,432.30 an ounce, the third consecutive decline.
West Texas Intermediate crude slide for a third day, dropping 0.8 percent to $95.31 a barrel after OPEC boosted output to the highest level in five months. The International Energy Agency, an adviser to 28 oil-consuming nations, will release forecasts for supply and demand through to 2018 in its Medium-Term Oil Market Report tomorrow.
Italy’s two-year yield rose seven basis points to 1.35 percent. Italy sold 3.5 billion euros of 2016 bonds with investors bidding for 1.34 times the amount offered, down from 1.40 times last month.
The yield on 10-year German bunds fell three basis points to 1.35 percent.
The shekel weakened 0.9 percent against the dollar as Israel’s central bank cut its benchmark rate 25 basis points to 1.5 percent.
Australia’s dollar weakened for a sixth day, the longest losing streak in almost a year, as Treasurer Wayne Swan is forecast to project a fifth and sixth year of budget deficits tomorrow. The so-called Aussie fell 0.4 percent to 99.88 U.S. cents after touching 99.54 earlier, the weakest since June 14.
--With assistance from Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo, Claudia Carpenter, Paul Dobson, Andrew Rummer, Grant Smith and Alexis Xydias in London. Editors: Stephen Kirkland, Stuart Wallace, Michael Regan
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net; Pratish Narayanan in Mumbai at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at Swallace6@bloomberg.net
