Last week ended with declines in U.S. and European markets, while China rebounded from a turbulent trading week, including two instances of its circuit breaker policy put into use in an effort to limit declines.
European shares fell on Friday, weighed down by the persistent rout in energy prices and in spite of a rebound in the Chinese market. The pan-European STOXX 600 index declined 1.49% to trade at 341.35, adding up to a weekly loss of 6.7%. The index hadn’t suffered similar weekly losses since August 2011, when Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and U.S. credit rating weighed down on the market. The Germany DAX 30 index declined more than other major benchmarks during last week. The index fell 8.3% over the week, its largest since August 2011. Friday saw the index fall 1.31% to trade at 9,849.34. The French CAC 40 fell 1.59% to trade at 4,333.76, adding up to 6.5% in weekly losses. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slid 0.7% to trade at 5,912.44, closing the week with a 5.3% decline.
Similarly to Europe, U.S. benchmarks also declined, posting dismal weekly performances despite a positive nonfarm payrolls report showing the addition of 229,000 jobs to the American labour market. The S&P 500 index shed 21.08 points, or 1.08%, to trade at 1,992.02, adding up to 6% in weekly losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 167.65 points, or 1.02%, to trade at 16,346.45, totaling at 6.2% in weekly declines. For both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones 30, last week proved to be the worst in the indexes’ history. The Nasdaq Composite declined 45.8 points, or nearly 1%, to trade at 4,643.63, down 7.3% for the entire week. Oil prices continued to fall on Friday, adding up to more than 10% in weekly losses. Crude oil decline 0.3% on Friday and has since fell an additional 1.17% to trade at $32.88 a barrel. Brent decline 0.6% on Friday and has since declined a further 1.45% to settle at $33.74 a barrel, its lowest prices since June 2004.
This week’s economic data releases begin with today’s European investor confidence and U.K. retail sales, followed by U.S. manufacturing and Chinese trade balance on Tuesday. U.S crude oil inventory reports will be released on Wednesday, followed by the U.K. interest rate decision, the European Central bank’s monetary policy meeting and U.S. unemployment claims on Thursday. The week will conclude with Friday’s release of U.S. retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment.