Sentiment sours on Wall Street

James Hughes AxiTrader UK

The mood for US equities has darkened noticeably in the last 24 hours. Yesterday’s shock retail sales figure rattled Wall Street and the tone certainly hasn’t improved since then, with questions being asked over progress in the US-China trade talks and news that Donald Trump is declaring a national emergency. This is allowing the US President to secure funding for his controversial border wall project and although the money is being diverted from elsewhere, so doesn’t impact borrowing, the precedent set by such a move is raising concern over how this will map out in the future.

After yesterday’s shock retail sales print, attention today will turn to the Michigan sentiment reading that should be reflecting an improved mood now that the US government shut down has ended. That’s due for release ahead of the opening bell, however, a shortfall here could once again leave traders scrabbling for the exits as they seek to minimise risk going into the weekend break.

Ahead of the open we’re calling the DOW down 80 at 25360 and the S&P down 9 at 2737.

Author

James Hughes

AxiTrader UK

James Hughes is Chief Market Analyst at AxiTrader. With over 15 years’ experience in the trading industry his knowledge of the financial markets and retail trading is second to none.

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