Global stocks struggled to cling to recent gains on Tuesday and the dollar lingered with markets awaiting U.S. data and a slew of corporate and bank earnings for a fresh readout on the health of the world’s largest economy.
But much of the focus was already shifting to the United States, where futures pointed to a flat opening. The U.S. earnings season is kicking off with heavyweights JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all due to report. “The 2019 earnings season will be roughly zero growth ... unless we see broader economic growth recovery, we may not see material earnings growth again for quite some time.”
“That feeds into the narrative of concerns around the global economy, the slowing in the U.S. economy, but also the need for potentially more aggressive rate cuts from the Fed to support the U.S. economy going forward,” Felsman said. Yields on benchmark 10-year German debt were steady at minus 0.2930 per cent after falling nearly five basis points overnight, its biggest drop in a month.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was a touch stronger at 97.063.