Markets shine trough trade clouds | Calamatta Cuschieri

Along with budgetary concerns out of Italy and Greece, Europe stocks were pushed lower on Tuesday. The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.5% to 381.97, also France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.5% to 5,477.71. Germany’s DAX 30 fell 0.4% to 12,288.86, while UK’s FTSE 100 down 0.2% to 7,474.85.

With regards to US, even as the broader market slumped amid worries on China-U.S. trade relations and a simmering crisis emanating from Italy, The Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged up 0.5% to close at 26,773. This climb represented the blue-chip index’s 14th all-time high of the year. However, the S&P 500 ended the session flat at 2,923. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished off 0.5% at 7,999.

U.S and China amid trade war

HONG KONG: US crude oil shipments to China have “totally stopped”, the President of China Merchants Energy Shipping Co (CMES) said on Wednesday, as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies takes its toll on what was a fast growing businesses.

Washington and Beijing have slapped steep import tariffs on hundreds of goods in the past months. And although US crude oil exports to China, which only started in 2016, have not yet been included, Chinese oil importers have shied away from new orders recently.

“We are one of the major carriers for crude oil from the US to China. Before (the trade war) we had a nice business, but now it’s totally stopped,” Xie Chunlin, the president of CMES said on the sidelines of the Global Maritime Forum’s Annual Summit in Hong Kong.

Ship tracking data in Refinitiv Eikon confirmed that U.S. crude oil shipments to China ground to a halt in September.

“It’s unfortunately happened, the trade war between the US and China. Surely for the shipping business, it’s not good,” the CMES president said.

He also said the trade dispute was forcing China to seek soybeans from suppliers other than the United States, adding that China now bought most its soybeans from South America.

Turkish lira dips as inflation soars

Soaring inflation hammered Turkish bonds and the lira on Wednesday and India’s rupee hit a fresh record low as high oil prices and a solid dollar kept the pressure on emerging markets.

The lira was firmly back above 6 to the dollar after data showed Turkish consumer prices surged nearly 25 percent in September, hitting its highest in over a decade as a deepening currency crisis pushed up prices of everything from food to fuel.

The worry is that inflation in Turkey will continue to increase in the coming months, which will put more pressure on consumers and increase economic instability.

Disclaimer: This article was issued by Nadiia Grech, junior trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.