Markets slammed by economic fears after U.S. data

money18.on.cc

油價下瀉觸發環球經濟前景憂慮，美國最新經濟數據遜預期，美國經濟或未能獨善其身，美股周三早段儼如「過山車」，道指開市不足10分鐘已狂瀉369點，失守萬6關，低見15,945點，惟短短約25分鐘，跌幅縮至百多點；標指曾挫40點，低見1,837點，今年漲幅化灰，然而僅約10分鐘，跌幅已縮至十餘點。美國十年期債息失守2厘關，挫32.06點子，低見1.8767厘。

歐洲股市同遭蹂躪，英、法、德、意股市尾段均挫逾2%，10年期德國及法國國債孳息率分別跌至0.81厘及1.16厘紀錄新低。

石油需求與供應前景嚴重有落差，國際能源機構(IEA)預期今年全球石油需求增長會是5年最慢，近月持續受壓的油價再度急挫，紐約期油周二挫3.9美元或 4.5%，每桶低見81.84美元，創2012年6月來低位；布蘭特期油曾失守每桶85美元，全日跌3.85美元或4.3%，低見85.04美元，創近4 年新低。油價周三續挫，紐約期油曾跌1.47美元至每桶80.37美元；布蘭特期油曾跌1.67美元至每桶83.37美元。

油價已墮入熊市，市場密切關注石油輸出國組織(OPEC)會否減產，沙特王子阿勒瓦利德對任由油價下跌不敢苟同，他向沙特石油部長納伊米發表公開信，指當地今年9成預 算靠石油收入支持，油價需維持每桶80至90美元才能確保預算平衡。加州大學聖迭戈分校經濟學教授漢密爾頓指，即使消費者可以較低價格購買汽油，惟若沒市 場吸納美國的出口，勢打擊美國整體經濟。

同時，9月份美國零售銷售按月倒退0.3%，跌幅超預期，撇除汽車銷售後意外倒退0.2%，主要 是工資增長溫和，不足以提高民眾購買力；同月美國生產物價指數(PPI)意外按月跌0.1%，為去年8月來首跌，扣除食物及能源後PPI按月持平，遜預 期。8月份美國商業庫存升0.2%，遜預期。三藩市聯儲銀行行長威廉斯揚言，若持續的反通脹預期成真，或需展開新一輪量寬。

儘管經濟憂慮重燃拖累股市再起波瀾，惟全球最大資產管理公司貝萊德行政總裁芬克指，幾乎沒聽聞有主權基金減持股票，認為投資者若能忍耐市場波動，目前正是入市時機，因能源價格跌有如減稅，可望推動新興市場，特別是印度的經濟增長。

基金研究機構HFR稱，近期科技股走勢反覆，油價急跌重挫能源板塊，「兩房」被華府要求續上繳盈利，令眾多股票型基金虧損加劇，損失不時因羊群效應而變得更嚴重。高盛數據顯示，一系列基金經理「吼實」的股票，股價自9月起累挫8.1%，跌幅遠超標指同期的4.8%。

finance.yahoo.com

By Lionel Laurent

LONDON (Reuters) - Global stocks, bond yields and commodity prices slumped on Wednesday as investor fears over the state of the global economy intensified after U.S. producer prices fell for the first time in more than a year.

U.S. equity futures were down 1.2 percent - with big blocks of shares being sold - and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1.9 percent after the release of the data, which fuelled worries of disinflation in the U.S.

Greece's benchmark equity index fell as much as 10 percent, though by 1307 GMT it had pared its losses to a drop of around 7 percent.

"There's been a big acceleration of the sell-off in stocks, with a spike in risk aversion spreading across the board to bonds and the currency market, and even a return of stress around Greek assets," Alexandre Baradez, chief market analyst at IG France.

"The newsflow is quickly deteriorating, including today's U.S. data. It's nothing to reassure investors. All the ingredients are there for further losses."

Market volatility has surged in recent weeks as investors weigh the timing of expected interest rate increases, especially in the United States, against disappointing macroeconomic signals such as a lower-than-expected inflation reading from China.

Investors sought refuge from cooling economic activity in safe-haven government bonds across the euro zone, with German bund yields hitting a record low. Pressure is growing on the European Central Bank to ease monetary policy further to spur growth in the region.

"With deflation worries still very much at the fore of the euro area and the pressure on the ECB to take further action in coming months, Bunds will remain underpinned in the near term," said Nick Stamenkovic, bond strategist at RIA Capital Markets.
After a stable start to the European trading day, stocks were firmly in the red by afternoon, with the MSCI All-Country World index down 0.3 percent.
Britain's FTSE 100 benchmark stock index was also down 1.6 percent, dragged lower by a 24 percent fall in the share price of drug company Shire after U.S. rival and suitor AbbVie warned it might reconsider plans to buy Shire.
Worries over the economic recovery also kept commodities under pressure. Brent crude futures fell to a new four-year low of $83.95 per barrel and U.S. crude oil fell to $80.60 per barrel, stoking fears of further disinflation.

"The sharp decline in the price of crude oil is serving to increase downside risks to inflation in the near term," said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
The oil price fall also affected currency markets, where the U.S. dollar hit a five-year high against the Canadian dollar and held firm near a 11-month peak against sterling. Investors resumed bullish bets on the dollar after a recent sell-off and stayed away from currencies grappling with disinflation.
"Clearly the correlation between oil and commodity prices on the Canadian dollar is playing out. The more oil prices fall, the more dollar/CAD will rise," said Jeremy Stretch, the head of currency strategy at CIBC World Markets.
Emerging markets in Russia and the Middle East, which depend on oil as a key revenue earner, were also hit: the rouble dipped to its weakest level on record, Russian government
borrowing costs hovered at a five-year high and shares in Moscow fell to near their lowest level since 2009.
Russia's central bank stepped in to shift its currency-intervention threshold and hold auctions for banks to deposit dollars, but analysts remained sceptical of their success.
"If the oil price doesn't stabilise, there probably isn't much hope for the rouble," said Richard Segal, an emerging market strategist at Jefferies. The currency is down almost 20 percent this year.

(Reporting by Lionel Laurent; Additional reporting by Blaise Robinson, Jamie McGeever, Anirban Nag, Marc Jones and Marius Zaharia; Editing by Toby Chopra, Larry King)