Market turmoil hit a new depth Monday as the S&P 500 opened significantly lower, recording the largest daily drop so far in 2019. But as the week progressed, the S&P 500 managed to slowly work back most of the losses.
Markets opened substantially lower on Monday on the news that China was instating a ban on the import of US agricultural goods. This move was seen by many analysts as a way for China to put additional economic pressure on the United States and President Trump specifically, in the year leading up to the next presidential election. The ban of US agricultural imports puts added focus on the Midwest, a segment of the country that has been viewed as ardent supporters of President Trump during the last election cycle.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-agriculture-purchase/china-halts-purchase-of-u-s-farm-products-idUSKCN1UV1WY
Additionally, China took steps to devalue their own currency to better position themselves in a trade war. On Monday, the Yuan in US Dollars hit the lowest level since 2008. Unlike other currencies that can trade feely on the open market, China limits the movement of its yuan versus the dollar.
The benefit to China in lowering their currency’s value is that it reduces the impact of a US tariff. By nature, tariffs make Chinese goods more expensive in the domestic market and thus less competitive. When China made the conscience decision to adjust its currency’s value relative to the dollar, it diminished the effects of the tariffs.
Because of this action, the Treasury labeled China a currency manipulator. Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that they will “engage with the International Monetary Fund to eliminate the unfair competitive advantage created by China’s latest actions”
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm751
This event marks the first time in since the 1990s that a country has been labeled a currency manipulator. Furthermore, it was China who in the 1990s earned that distinction.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/05/trump-blasts-china-yuan-drop-as-currency-manipulation-1634502
In the end, the geopolitical turmoil caused the treasury market to drop, sending yields much lower for the week.
______________________________________________
The S&P 500® Index is a capitalization index of 500 stock-designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of stock representing all major industries.
https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500
The Dow Jones Industrial Average® (The Dow®), is a price-weighted measure of 30 U.S. blue-chip companies. The index covers all industries except transportation and utilities.
https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/dow-jones-industrial-average
The NASDAQ Composite Index measures all NASDAQ domestic and international based common type stocks listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market. Today the NASDAQ Composite includes over 2,500 companies, more than most other stock market indexes. Because it is so broad-based, the Composite is one of the most widely followed and quoted major market indexes
https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/Index/Overview/COMP
The MSCI World Index, which is part of The Modern Index Strategy, is a broad global equity benchmark that represents large and mid-cap equity performance across 23 developed markets countries. It covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country and MSCI World benchmark does not offer exposure to emerging markets.
The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index is designed to represent the performance of large- and mid-cap securities in 24 Emerging Markets countries of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. As of December 2017 it had more than 830 constituents and covered approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.
The S&P GSCI Crude Oil index provides investors with a reliable and publicly available benchmark for investment performance in the crude oil market.
https://us.spindices.com/indices
Companies in the S&P 500 Sector Indices are classified based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®).
https://us.spindices.com/indices