Showing posts with label Erdogan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erdogan. Show all posts

Friday, August 10, 2018

Stocks Stall Out, Dow Down Second Straight Day; Turkey Sparks Global Sell-Off

Things began turning ugly late on Thursday as the Dow - for the second day in a row - fell sharply nearing the close of the session.

Stocks had been trading nearly unchanged heading into the final hour, but dropped deep into the red to end the day down nearly 75 points. While the drop is hardly more than a rounding error (0.29%), the pattern of losing ground at the end of the session is troubling.

Notice has been taken by market participants. As of Friday morning, Asian bourses closed lower and European indices were off significantly, with the German DAX off by two percent.

In the US, futures are pointing to a large sell-off at the opening bell. The culprit appears to be the currency crisis in Turkey, where the Lira was down more than 12% on the day against the US dollar and is down 66% on the year.

It appears that Turkey is on the verge of a major collapse as President Erdogan defies his critics by refusing to raise interest rates in order to stave off incipient inflation.

The Dow is up just over 40 points for the week. A negative close could end a streak of five straight winning weeks for the 30 blue chip stocks.

Dow Jones Industrial Average August Scorecard:

Date Close Gain/Loss Cum. G/L
8/1/18 25,333.82 -81.37 -81.37
8/2/18 25,326.16 -7.66 -89.03
8/3/18 25,462.58 +136.42 +55.05
8/6/18 25,502.18 +39.60 +94.65
8/7/18 25,628.91 +126.73 +221.38
8/8/18 25,583.75 -45.16 +176.22
8/9/18 25,509.23 -74.52 +101.70

At the Close, Thursday, August 9, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 25,509.23, -74.52 (-0.29%)
NASDAQ: 7,891.78, +3.46 (+0.04%)
S&P 500 2,853.58, -4.12 (-0.14%)
NYSE Composite: 12,956.66, -31.25 (-0.24%)