By Tom Westbrook and Amanda Cooper
SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks were mixed in choppy trading on Tuesday as investors were jittery ahead of major corporate earnings reports and central bank moves, and concern over the global economic outlook dented commodities and oil prices touched early June lows.
Global crude benchmark futures fell 1.4% as worry over Chinese energy demand outweighed any concern about tensions in the Middle East or Venezuela. [O/R]
and iron ore prices were also lower, and aluminium fell to multi-month lows, while there was little by way of support from China’s Politburo, which at its July meeting announced no new detailed efforts to boost the economy.
“The consensus is that the U.S. economy is going to be softer this quarter and maybe next quarter as well and you can’t really rely on the euro area to offer any compensation for that. China has got its own problems and doesn’t look like it’s going to snap into gear,” Daiwa Capital economist Chris Scicluna said.
“Understandably, we might have been hoping for the global economy to be gaining traction and momentum to be picking up at this stage in the cycle, but it looks like maybe things are coming off the boil a bit,” he said.
The MSCI All-World index, which is heading for a third straight monthly gain in July, eased 0.29 points, or 0.04%, to 804.06 by 10:45 a.m. ET (1445 GMT).
On Wall Street, the rose 162.83 points, or 0.40%, to 40,702.76, the lost 2.44 points, or 0.04%, to 5,461.10 and the lost 63.85 points, or 0.37%, to 17,306.35.
In Europe, London’s retreated. Top spirits maker Diageo (LON:) hit a 4-1/2-year low following a profit miss.
Preliminary euro zone data showed economic growth in the single currency bloc expanded at an annual rate of 0.6% in the second quarter of this year, above forecasts for a reading of 0.5%. A separate report showed the German economy unexpectedly contracted in the second quarter, but this had little bearing on expectations for interest rates.
German 10-year Bund yields fell nearly 1%.
‘CALM BEFORE THE STORM’
Interest rates remain front…
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