S&P 500 Index opens sharply lower, all majors sectors trade in red

Wall Street's main indexes are suffering heavy losses on Tuesday.
Risk-sensitive technology stocks underperform for the second straight day.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

After falling on Monday, major equity indexes continue to push lower as safe-haven flows remain in control of financial markets. As of writing, the S&P 500 was losing 0.95% at 4,148, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1% at 34,405 and the Nasdaq Composite was falling 0.9% at 13,238.

Reflecting the risk-averse market environment, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street's fear gauge, is up nearly 12% on the day at 22.08.

All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 trade in the negative territory after the opening bell. The risk-sensitive Technology Index is down 1.5%. On the other hand, the Financials Index is only losing 0.15% supported by a more-than-1% increase in the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield.

S&P 500 (SPX) Nasdaq (QQQ) Day Ahead: Can the Fed stop the red.

S&P 500 chart (daily)

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD flirts with weekly lows near 1.1770

EUR/USD now comes under further selling pressure, breaking below the 1.1800 support to challenge the area of weekly throughs near 1.1770 on Thursday. The pair’s decline comes in response to marked gains in the US Dollar amid steady geopolitical tensions. Ealier in the day, the ECB’s Lagarde delivered cautious remarks, although the currency remained apathetic.

GBP/USD threatens the 200-day SMA near 1.3440

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Gold trims gains, slips back to around $5,170

Gold is now facing some downside pressure, hovering around the $5,170 region on Thursday. The yellow metal surrenders part of its earlier gains on the back of the resurgence of the buying interest in the Greenback. In the meantime, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continue to limit the downside potential for now.