FOMC Drift Dead As Global Stocks Slide Ahead Of Fed
After yesterday's last day selloff, the FOMC Drift is again missing again this morning, with S&P futures in the red following a drop in Asian shares and a bigger slump in Europe, where the Brexit chaos returned after May said she would not seek a long delay from the EU while a sharp drop in Bayer and BMW shares dragged Germany's DAX 1% lower. The dollar rose and ten-year Treasury yields slipped.
US equity futures erased an earlier gain, as nervous investors sold ahead of today's FOMC meeting, with the mood souring on Tuesday after reports of renewed tensions in U.S.-China trade talks also fraying nerves.
As a result, the longest winning streak in global shares since 2017 was set to end with a whimper as investors took profits on Wednesday before the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision, ending 7 consecutive days of increases in the MSCI World.
Europe's STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, with indexes in Britain and France also slightly down as investors closed positions before the Fed’s decision, due at 2pm this afternoon.
Germany’s DAX led the retreat as BMW warned earnings would fall and chemical maker Bayer headed for the biggest drop in 16 years after the company lost the first phase of a U.S. jury trial over claims its Roundup weed killer causes cancer. The steep decline has a negative impact of almost 100 points on the DAX. Additionally, German automaker BMW stumbled 4.2%, after warning earnings will fall “well below” last year’s level. The news dragged down peers with Daimler down 2%, Continental -1.7%, and Volkswagen -2.1%.
Elsewhere, the largest Swiss bank UBS warned the first quarter "was one of the worst in history."
Earlier, Asian equity markets lacked firm direction following a lacklustre US session as global risk appetite was hampered by the looming FOMC meeting and ongoing US-China trade uncertainty. ASX 200 (-0.3%) and Nikkei 225 (+0.2%) traded mixed in which the former was pressured by weakness in financials and mining names, while Sony and Nintendo shares were among the biggest decliners in Japan following Google’s announcement of a cloud-based gaming service, although losses in the broader Tokyo market were later pared by a drop in the yen. Hang Seng (-0.2%) and Shanghai Comp. (U/C) conformed to the indecisive tone due to trade uncertainty following conflicting news flow in which US-China trade talks were said to be at the final stages with senior trade negotiators to meet from next week, although other reports noted expectations that China may walk back on some trade offers and that issues remained regarding data services and pharma.
Looking at today's main event, the U.S. central bank is expected to hold rates steady and cut the number of hikes projected for the rest of the year, signaling since early this year a “patient” approach to increasing borrowing costs, while also unveiling its plan to end the balance sheet rolloff.
“Some traders expect the Fed to be a little on the neutral side. The Fed will be optimistic - but not overly optimistic - to send a neutral but upbeat message to the market,” said David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets in London.
rest at link
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-20/fomc-drift-dead-global-stocks-slide-ahead-fed
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures
(why did you take the 2-day snap chart out the futures Bloomberg? always fucking shit up aren't you….)
https://www.dailyfx.com/crude-oil