The biggest, and most market-moving, event overnight continues to be yesterday’s shocking OPEC announcement, which is still reverberating across the energy space as markets largely ignore European and Japanese inflation data which is once again sliding back dangerously fast, or Italian unemployment which rose more than expected, and joined France in hitting a new record high. As a result European shares remain lower, close to intraday lows, with the oil & gas and industrials sectors underperforming and telco and travel outperforming as oil continues its decline. EU inflation slowed in Nov. to 0.3%. Italian and Swedish markets are the worst-performing larger bourses, Spanish the best. The euro is weaker against the dollar. And while US equity futures are largely unchanged even as, or perhaps because, the world is screaming economic slowdown, bonds are finally getting the message with U.S. 10yr bond yields falling to only 2.20% as Japanese yields also decline.
Some more detail from RanSquawk:
European equities enter the North American crossover in negative territory albeit off their worst levels. The sole catalyst for price action thus far has been the fallout of yesterday’s decision by OPEC to refrain from altering their output ceiling. More specifically, the energy sector has naturally been substantially weighed on by the ramifications of yesterday, with the top 10 laggards in the Stoxx 600 all being from the sector, with the FTSE 100 feeling the squeeze with BP and shell notably lower, with the two Co.’s accounting for just over 12% of the index. Nonetheless, airliners have provided stocks with some modest reprieve as the lower energy prices will benefit the sector, although the implications for airliners are less substantial than those of oil producers. Elsewhere, in fixed income markets, Bunds opened at fresh contract highs, although now reside in relatively modest territory after failing to make a break above the 153.00 level. One thing to be aware of looking ahead, is that the lower energy prices are likely to filter through to global inflation prospects and thus could have further considerations on central bank policies, notably the ECB, with this also coming in the backdrop of the heightened expectations of a sovereign QE programme.
