Stock Market Today: European indexes trade mixed, long weekend in US
US stock markets will return to action on Tuesday after a long weekend.
European equity indexes trade mixed to start the week.
Federal Reserve will release the minutes of the January policy meeting on Wednesday.
Stock markets in the US will remain closed in observance of the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday. Major equity indexes in Europe trade mixed. As of writing, Germany's DAX 30 is down 0.4% at 17,051, Euro Stoxx 50 falls 0.35% to 4,748.73, Italy's FTSE trades flat, while Spain's IBEX 35 and the UK's FTSE 100 indexes both gain about 0.2%.
Stock market news
●Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined 1.13% to close at 16,155.61 on Monday. Shanghai Composite rose 1.56% to 2,910.54. Following a bearish start to the week, Japan's Nikkei 225 staged a late recovery to end the day flat at 38,470.38.
●Dow Jones (DJIA) closed the previous week virtually unchanged at 38,628. S&P 500 lost 0.42% to close at 5,005.56 and Nasdaq fell 0.82% to 15,775.65.
●The Communication Services sector ended Friday in the red by 1.56% as the worst-performing major S&P sector, followed by the Real Estate Sector that shed 0.99% by the closing bell. On the flip side, Friday's largest-gaining sector was the S&P's Materials Sector, climbing 0.51% on the day.
●Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) was the top S&P 500 gainer on Friday, rising 6.3% to end the day at $199.57. Digital Realty Trust Inc. (DLR) lost 8.3%, wrapping up Friday's trading at $136.22 as the biggest decliner.
●The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of the January policy meeting on Wednesday. On Thursday, preliminary February Manufacturing and Services PMI reports for Germany, the Euro area, the UK and the US will be scrutinized by market participants.
●The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand in the US rose 0.9% on a yearly basis in January. This reading followed the 1% increase recorded in December but came in above the market expectation of 0.6%. The annual Core PPI rose 2% in the same period, compared to December's increase of 1.8%. On a monthly basis, the Core PPI was up 0.5% following the 0.1% decline recorded in the previous month.
●The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index improved modestly to 79.6 in February's flash estimate from 79.0 in January. The Current Conditions Index edged lower to 81.5 from 81.9 and the Consumer Expectations Index rose to 78.4 from 77.1.
●Inflation in the US, as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), softened to 3.1% on a yearly basis in January from 3.4% in December, the BLS reported on Tuesday. This reading came in above the market expectation of 2.9%.
●The Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.9% in the same period and matched December's increase, surpassing analysts' estimate of 3.7%.
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