Stock market news: August 7, 2019 – Yahoo Finance

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended narrowly higher Wednesday, after languishing in the red for much of the session. Earlier in the day, a spate of international central banks cut interest rates, signaling a synchronous tilt toward easier monetary policy as officials sounded the alarms on the impact of ongoing trade tensions to global growth.

Haven assets including U.S. Treasurys and precious metal prices continued to gap higher following a rout in risk assets earlier this week. Gold prices breached the $1,500 per ounce level for the first time since 2013. German bond yields slid further into negative territory, with Germany’s yield curve flattening the most since the financial crisis Wednesday morning.

Here were the main moves in the market, as of the end of regular trading:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +0.08%, or 2.25 points

• Dow (^DJI): -0.08%, or 21.74 points

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +0.36%, or 29.56 points

• 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX): -2.8 bps to 1.711%

• Gold futures (GC=F): +1.7% to $1,509.40 per ounce

• U.S. dollar index (DX-Y.NYB): -0.05% to 97.58

• U.S. dollar to onshore Chinese yuan rate ( CNY=X): -0.0256% to 7.0222

At the lows of the day, the Dow was off as many as 589 points.

New Zealand’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, a more aggressive cut than had been expected by most economists, to an all-time low of 1%. The country’s Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr signaled that economic headwinds had risen, and that further action – including cutting to negative interest rates – could be warranted.

Other economies also saw their key interest rates lowered Wednesday, on account of rising global uncertainties. Thailand’s central bank unexpectedly cut rates by 25 basis points, while India’s central bank decreased its own rate by 35 basis points.

The contemporaneous moves on the part of the three central banks underscored a global economy troubled by mounting trade tensions and slowing growth, with central bankers rushing in to provide support.

President Donald Trump weighed in on the slew of rate cuts Wednesday morning, reiterating his call for the Federal Reserve to do the same.

“‘Three more Central Banks cut rates.’ Our problem is not China – We are stronger than ever, money is pouring into the U.S. while China is losing companies by the thousands to other countries, and their currency is under siege – Our problem is a Federal Reserve that is too….. ….proud to admit their mistake of acting too fast and tightening too much (and that I was right!). They must Cut Rates bigger and faster, and stop their ridiculous quantitative tightening NOW,” Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts.

However, one of the more dovish members of the Federal Reserve suggested further easing in the U.S. may be overly preemptive at this point until the effects of the Fed’s 25 basis point cut last week could be assessed, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in a speech Tuesday.

“While additional policy action may be desirable, the long and variable lags in the effects of monetary policy suggest that the effects of previous actions are only now beginning to impact macroeconomic outcomes,” he said in prepared remarks.

And while recent developments in trade negotiations suggest it will be “difficult to reach a stable global trade regime over the forecast horizon,” Bullard added that “U.S. monetary policy cannot reasonably react to the day-to-day give-and-take of trade negotiations.” Bullard reiterated that he saw just one more rate cut in 2019.

Ahead of another meeting between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators in September, market participants continue to eye the yuan against the U.S. dollar, after the U.S. Treasury designated China a currency manipulator Monday.