Global share markets fell over the last week on the back of geopolitical concerns with Democrats opening an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, ongoing trade war uncertainties and more Brexit confusion at the same time that global business conditions surveys remained soft.
Final reports for September for manufacturing and services will be issued this week and will confirm the weakness – the one to watch will be the US where data on Friday confirmed consumer spending is slowing and US third-quarter GDP could be much lower than the 2% confirmed last week for the June quarter.
For the week US shares fell 1.1%, Eurozone shares lost 0.6%, Japanese shares fell 0.9% and Chinese shares lost 2.1%. Relatively speaking the ASX outperformed the larger bourses offshore, only dipping by 0.2%.
Australian shares were dragged last week lower by the poor global lead with telcos and resources stocks down sharply but with real estate, IT and consumer discretionary stocks helping to limit the decline over the week to 0.2%. Reflecting the risk-off tone bond yields also fell.
The oil price fell 3.8% and has almost fully reversed its spike on the back of the attack on Saudi oil production, and the copper price rose slightly. The Australian dollar slipped as the US dollar rose.
Wall Street slid lower on Friday, closing out the second week of losses, as investors mulled over a report that the Trump administration is considering potential curbs on US portfolio investments into China.
Investors also kept an eye on U.S. mixed economic data and the geopolitical implications of whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump who is facing an impeachment inquiry in Congress.
The Dow lost 70.87 points or 0.26%, to 26,820.25, while S&P 500 index lost 15.83 points, or 0.53%, to trade at 2,961.79. The Nasdaq gave up 91.03 points, or 1.13%, at 7,939.63.
For the week, the Dow lost 0.43%, the S&P 500fell 1.01%, while the Nasdaq dropped 2.19%.
