This morning it looks like the combination of turmoil in Washington and some weak economic data have led traders and investors to take money out of risk assets and put money into safe havens.
As of 11:40 a.m. New York time, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was off 1.11% and the NASDAQ Composite, which has led this market higher, was down 1.6%. And the decline wasn’t limited to the United States. The German DAX Index was off 1.3% and the French CAC 40 Index fell 1.69%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) was down 1.08%
In the bond market the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped to 2.25% from 2.33% yesterday as traders decided that the combination of a crisis in Washington and slower U.S. growth reduced the odds for an interest rate increase at the Federal Reserve’s June 14 meeting. The odds of a rate increase fell to 64% today, Bloomberg calculates from prices in the Fed Funds Futures market. That’s down from 80% odds a weak ago. Odds for an increase in September have also declined.
The U.S. dollar weakened on the shift in sentiment, falling 1.48% against the safe-haven Japanese yen. The euro climbed to $1.1131.
Assets used to hedge against risk rose. Gold climbed for a fifth day rising to $1256.8 an ounce, for a gain of 1.65%. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) was up 2.4% and the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) rose 2.64%.
The VIX, the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index, climbed 24.32% to 13.24.
