Markets track Wall Street lower - 20.7.2021

The Dollar strengthening is intact currently . The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, added 0.2% on Monday while the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported builder confidence edged lower in July.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD continued their sliding Monday. Both are lower currently. USD/JPY reversed its advancing Monday while AUD/USD continued retreating with both yen and Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are down currently ahead of the Census Bureau building permits and housing starts data at 14:30 CET today while US 10-year Treasury yields inched up to 1.186% currently. All three major Wall Street stock benchmarks ended solidly lower yesterday despite better than expected second-quarter earnings reports with 90% of those of SP500 companies that have reported so far having beaten consensus estimates. The three main stock benchmarks recorded losses in the range of 1.1% to 2.1% Monday.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after ending sharply lower Monday with banks, energy and travel shares leading losses. Asian indexes are mostly lower today with Hong Kong’s Heng Seng Index leading losses as China’s central bank kept a benchmark lending rate unchanged despite growing expectations for a cut.