Wall Street, EU shares, EUR/USD down as oil prices slumped, political uncertainty
The euro fell to a one-week low against the dollar on Monday on uncertainty ahead of several impending European elections, while European and U.S. stock markets dipped ahead of a heavy week of corporate results.
Concerns over French politics ahead of the presidential vote in April, as well as other elections in Europe later in the year, dented the euro.
“Political risk is serving to dampen the euro after last week’s stumble from the $1.08 area,” said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist, at Scotiabank in Toronto.
Investors were largely focused on French politics, as far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen launched her presidential bid, vowing to fight globalization and take France out of the euro zone.
In mid-morning trading, the euro fell 0.4 percent against the dollar to $1.0737 EUR=. It dropped to $1.0705, its weakest level since Jan. 31.
The dollar slid to its lowest in more than two months against the yen JPY=, pressured by a drop in U.S. Treasury yields, analysts said.
But the greenback rose 0.2 percent .DXY against a basket of major currencies.
In the U.S. equity market, key indexes were modestly lower ahead of a slew of results and lingering uncertainty over the policy decisions of President Donald Trump and the potential impact of these on the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 4.83 points, or 0.02 percent, to 20,076.29, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.68 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,294.74 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.31 points, or 0.01 percent, to 5,666.46..
Oil slipped as the strong dollar and ample U.S. supplies outweighed OPEC output curbs and rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
Brent crude LCOc1 was trading at $56 a barrel, or 1.4 percent, having touched an intra-day high of $57.13. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 40 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $53.24.
There was no overarching theme to Monday’s market moves, highlighting how correlations between financial market assets have broken down in recent months as investors sense the era of ultra-loose monetary policy may be winding up.
