Wall Street ends week lower despite Friday bounce

US markets bounced back on Friday as global markets stabilised following supportive comments on trade from Donald Trump. However the modest gains were not enough to prevent the major indices from ending the week in the red amid worsening US-Chinese trade tensions and mounting global growth concerns.

S&P 500 edged out a 0.1 per cent gain in New York on Friday, following falls in the previous session to finish the week down 1.2 per cent. This marks the benchmark’s third straight week of decline and its longest weekly losing streak since December.

The weekly drop comes even after US President Donald Trump on Thursday said there remained a “good possibility” that the negotiations with Beijing could get back on track. He added Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications network company, could still be “included” in a trade deal with Beijing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week down 0.7 per cent despite Friday’s 0.4 per cent bounce. That makes it its fifth back-to-back week of losses, the most in eight years.

The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.1 per cent for the day and down 2.3 per cent for the week.

The yield on US 10-year Treasury bonds was up 2.8 basis points at 2.3237 per cent, after dropping to its lowest level since 2017 in the previous session as investors sought the relative safety of sovereign debt.

The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 closed up 0.6 per cent, with the trade-sensitive technology sector rising 0.4 per cent.

UK markets pushed higher after Theresa May announced she would stand down as prime minister in two weeks’ time, while global stocks were stable following supportive words overnight on trade from Donald Trump.

Sterling traded higher than $1.27 as Mrs May outlined her June 7 departure plans from Downing Street on live television. The currency, close to its lows for the year, has fallen more than 2.5 per cent this month as Mrs May’s efforts to break the Brexit impasse have fizzled out. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt was recently up 2 basis point to 0.971 per cent, while London’s FTSE 100 ended the session up 0.7 per cent.

Chinese equities outperformed others in the region, with the CSI 300 rising 0.3 per cent, having given up earlier stronger gains. The benchmark index of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks has fallen 8 per cent this month, on track for its steepest monthly drop in more than three years.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.3 per cent.

Brent crude prices was up 2.3 per cent at $69.30 a barrel, rebounding after a drop of as much as 5.6 per cent on Thursday on rising US inventories and persistent trade war risks.

Snapshot

Price +/- %
DXY 97.59 -0.3
EUR/USD $1.12 +0.2
GBP/USD $1.2711 +0.4
Brent $69.30 +2.3
S&P 500 2,826.06 +0.1
FTSE 100 7277.73 +0.7
DAX 12011,04 +0.5
US 10Y 2.3237 +2.8 bps
Hang Seng 27,353.93 +0.3