Risk aversion is rising, U.S. stock futures are declining, European stocks opened lower, and gold has reached a new high
Spot gold broke through the $3,500 mark, reaching a historic high, while silver prices surged to a 14-year high; the Japanese yen fell 0.5% against the US dollar; US oil rose more than 1% to $65 per barrel
Concerns over the erosion of the Federal Reserve's independence have heightened risk aversion, with expectations for interest rate cuts continuing to rise ahead of next week's Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.
On Tuesday, September 2, U.S. stock index futures fell, European stocks opened lower, gold and silver surged, the dollar rose, U.S. Treasury yields steepened, and oil prices increased.
Kazuhiro Sasaki, head of Japanese research at Phillip Securities, stated:
"As the possibility of U.S. policy rate cuts increases, funds are shifting from the dollar to global markets. The expectation of rate cuts is also a catalyst for interest rate-sensitive sectors such as real estate and cyclical stocks."
The market is also focused on the upcoming U.S. non-farm payroll data for August, which will be the last key data before the Federal Reserve's September meeting.
Here are the movements of core assets:
- U.S. stock index futures all fell. Dow futures dropped 0.1%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.14%.
- European stocks opened lower. The Euro Stoxx 50 index opened down 0.04%, Germany's DAX index fell 0.2%, the UK's FTSE 100 index dropped 0.25%, and France's CAC 40 index rose 0.3%.
- Asian stock markets were mixed, with both Japanese and South Korean markets closing higher. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.3%, the Topix index rose 0.6%; South Korea's Seoul Composite Index closed up 0.9%.
- Amid rising risk aversion and expectations for rate cuts, gold and silver prices both hit record highs. Spot gold broke through the $3,500 mark, reaching an all-time high; silver prices soared to a 14-year high.
- The yen fell 0.5% against the dollar during the day. Previously, the bid-to-cover ratio for Japan's 10-year government bond auction reached the highest level since October 2023, indicating strong demand, with the 10-year Japanese bond yield briefly declining by 1.5 basis points to 1.605%.
- The yield on the UK's 30-year government bonds climbed to 5.66%, the highest since 1998.
- Brent crude rose 0.57% during the day, while U.S. crude surged 1.59%, closing at $68.52 per barrel and $64.99 per barrel, respectively
