Stock prices on US and European stock exchanges mostly fell on Monday as fears of a recession created instability in financial markets. The British pound fell to historic lows against the US dollar on those concerns, and oil prices also fell.
Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell at least 1% to end the trading session at their lowest levels this year.
The London stock index rose slightly, recovering from an initial decline that followed the drop in the pound on concerns about the state of the British economy. The stock indices of Frankfurt and Paris fell.
The British pound briefly touched a record low of $1.0350 against the US dollar on Monday. On the other hand, the value of the euro against the dollar temporarily fell to a new 20-year low – $0.9554 per euro.
Interest rates on 10-year government bonds hit 10-year highs in France, Germany and Italy a day after an alliance of right-wing parties won Italy’s parliamentary elections. However, the Italian stock market rallied as the market evaluated the future political landscape.
“Time will tell how successful the new one will be [Itālijas] government, but the prospect of some political stability is creating a slight relief-driven upside” in today’s stock market, said Craig Erlam, an analyst at online trading platform OANDA.
Oil prices fell due to pressure from the strong US dollar and continued worries about oil demand.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% to 29,260.81 on Monday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 1.0% to 3,655.04 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 10,802, 92 points.
London’s FTSE 100 was up less than 0.1% to 7,020.95 on Monday, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was down 0.5% to 12,227.92 and Paris’ CAC 40 was down 0.2% to 5769.39 points.
WTI crude oil fell 2.6% to $78.71 a barrel on Monday in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The price of “Brent” crude oil on the London stock exchange decreased by 2.4% to 84.06 dollars a barrel.
The euro fell $0.9687 to $0.9611 per euro on Monday, the British pound fell $1.0859 to $1.0689 per pound and the dollar rose against the Japanese yen by 143.31 to 144.72 yen to the dollar. The euro rose against the British pound from 89.29 to 89.87 pence to the euro.
