Global Stock Rally Halted In Aftermath Of Latest French Terror Attack
By Tyler Durden
The tremendous rally of the past 4 days that has sent global stocks soaring in recent days has finally been capped and European shares, S&P futures are all modestly lower following a deadly terror attack in Nice, France. Meanwhile Asian stocks rose as Chinese economic data beat estimates, with Q2 GDP rising by 0.1% more than the estimated 6.6% on the back of stronger housing data. European stocks halted this week’s rally as French shares retreated following a deadly terror attack in Nice.
As expected in the aftermath of another tragic terrorist attack on French soil, which killed at least 80 and prompted France to extend a state of emergency, travel and leisure shares were among the worst performers on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index briefly exceeded its highest close of the year as the Hong Kong-listed stocks of Chinese companies extended their biggest weekly gain in four months and Taiwan’s equities entered a bull market. Japan’s Topix index capped its best week since 2009 and the yen slid on prospects for stimulus: Japan’s currency has now seen the biggest weekly drop in the 21st century on the back of rising chatter of helicopter money. The pound strengthened, oil fell and gold was poised for its first weekly loss since May.
The impact of the Nice terror attack on markets is not expected to have a lasting impact: past terror attacks on financial markets has typically proved short-lived and actually led to market rebounds. Multiple attacks in Paris in November that left 130 dead, as well as bombings that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains in March 2004 and left more than 50 dead in London in July 2005 spurred selloffs in equities that were erased days or weeks later.
“The attack in Nice is of course truly a horrible accident, but in terms of the market reaction, these kinds of shocks do not last very long,” said Michael Kapler, an equities manager at Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Potsdam, Germany. “There are rumors that the Japanese central bank will deliver the next liquidity push to the markets, and we are expecting the Bank of England to ease in August. The focus is there, as well as on the earnings season both in Europe and the U.S.”
More than $4 trillion has been added to the value of global equities since June 27 as the U.S. economy outperforms projections and speculation mounts that policy makers will take steps to limit the fallout from the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union.
“We’re seeing better-than-expected growth, particularly in the U.S. economy, and we’ve got a higher likelihood of central bank stimulus,” Michael McCarthy, the Sydney-based chief market strategist at CMC Markets, told Bloomberg Radio. “These ideas are opposing, but at the moment they are both supporting equities. At some point there is going to have to be a resolution of that.”
But not yet, and as the chart below shows, global equities are now valued at $64.5 trillion, the …read more
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