{"id":138572,"date":"2018-12-10T06:35:49","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T11:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countingpips.com\/?p=138572"},"modified":"2018-12-10T06:05:39","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T11:05:39","slug":"u-s-stocks-on-track-for-worst-december-in-16-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2018\/12\/u-s-stocks-on-track-for-worst-december-in-16-years\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. stocks on track for worst December in 16 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
December 10, 2018<\/div>
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Article by ForexTime<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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December has so far been one of the worst year-ends for global investors in recent history. The S&P 500 has fallen 4.6% from the beginning of the month, and if it remains at current levels until year\u2019s end it will mark the worst performing December since 2003. Neither the dovish statements we heard from the Federal Reserve\u2019s policymakers nor the trade truce between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping provided signs of relief to the financial markets.<\/p>\n

October\u2019s selloff was mainly attributed to fears of the Fed\u2019s tightening policy. However, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said rates are \u201cjust below\u201d neutral, anxiety over higher interest rates is no longer justified.<\/p>\n

The arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada, following a U.S. extradition request, have created serious concerns that the truce between the two Presidents may end before the 90 days agreed upon. This is occurring at a time when the global economy is experiencing a slowdown – and here comes the big threat. Bond markets have been more accurate than stock markets in predicting economic slowdowns.\u00a0 The short end of the U.S. Treasury yield curve already inverted last week and it looks like just a matter of time before the long end of the curve inverts too. While this doesn\u2019t necessarily indicate a recession is imminent, it\u2019s a bold warning signal.<\/p>\n

When looking at latest U.S. economic data, it doesn\u2019t look bad. Despite the U.S. NFP missing markets expectations coming in at 155,000, the unemployment remains at nearly a 50-year low. U.S. factory activity remains healthy according to the latest ISM figures, and similarly the service sector has reflected strong growth in November. However, the U.S. economy won\u2019t be able to sustain its growth levels when everywhere else is experiencing a slowdown, and the real test will be next year when Trump\u2019s fiscal policy goes into reverse.<\/p>\n

Equities in Asia resumed their selloff from last week, while Europe along with U.S. markets are also set to open in the red according to futures.<\/p>\n

This week is a big one for the UK with the European Court of Justice expected to rule on whether the UK can cancel Brexit unilaterally. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to face defeat in a House of Commons vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday. Today we will get to know whether May decides to delay the vote on her Brexit deal, but the biggest unknown is what happens if MPs vote down the deal. Are we going to see a second referendum, no-confidence vote, a hard Brexit, or even a general election? This will keep Sterling in a very volatile mode until the clouds clear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Disclaimer: <\/strong>The content in this article comprises personal opinions and should not be construed as containing personal and\/or other investment advice and\/or an offer of and\/or solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments and\/or a guarantee and\/or prediction of future performance. ForexTime (FXTM), its affiliates, agents, directors, officers or employees do not guarantee the accuracy, validity, timeliness or completeness, of any information or data made available and assume no liability as to any loss arising from any investment based on the same.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Forex-Time-Logo\"Article by ForexTime<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

ForexTime Ltd (FXTM)<\/strong> is an award winning international online forex broker regulated by CySEC 185\/12 www.forextime.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by ForexTime December has so far been one of the worst year-ends for global investors in recent history. The S&P 500 has fallen 4.6% from the beginning of the month, and if it remains at current levels until year\u2019s end it will mark the worst performing December since 2003. Neither the dovish statements we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138581,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138572\/revisions\/138581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}