Stocks and Oil Slide Down; Safe-Haven Bonds and Gold Edge Up

Stock markets slid down on Thursday as the outlook for interest rates and growth remained uncertain. Government bonds and gold gained momentum with the yen getting more support in Asia.

Oil prices dropped further reaching a new six-week low due to growing concerns over fuel reserves being tapped into by the U.S, China and Japan. Brent futures were at $79.77, down by 8% from last month’s high.

In other news, Nikki fell by 0.6% during early trade, MSCI outside of Japan declined by 0.5% with S&P futures remaining flat. However, in Hong Kong, uneasiness of the earnings outlook affected overall tech stocks and led to a 5% drop in Alibaba. The Hand Seng was also seen 1% lower.

Jun Bei Liu, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in Sydney stated, “We do seem to have stalled somewhat as we head into the year end. Investors perhaps are just taking a bit of pause in the wake of a strong U.S results season, but as inflation and China’s slowdown loom as macroeconomic headwinds.” The yen jumped against the dollar to 113.94 whereas gold increased by 1%. On Thursday in Asia, gold went up further 0.1% to $1,869.