NEW YORK: An impasse in US stimulus negotiations and mixed corporate earnings reports in Europe pushed global equities lower and sent investors into perceived safe-haven assets like government bonds and gold, which hovered near record highs.

Senate Republicans announced on Monday a $1 trillion coronavirus aid package hammered out with the White House, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touted as a “tailored and targeted” plan to reopen schools and businesses.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.08 per cent following modest declines in Asia and Europe, where disappointing earnings results from luxury goods makers weighed on investor sentiment.

In morning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86.85 points, or 0.33pc, to 26,497.92, the S&P 500 lost 3.82 points, or 0.12pc, to 3,235.59 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 30.13 points, or 0.29pc, to 10,506.14.

The rest of the week will see 179 S&P 500 companies reporting second-quarter earnings, including Google, Amazon and Apple.

Spot gold dropped 0.2pc to $1,937.49 an ounce. US gold futures gained 0.03pc to $1,931.50 an ounce.

Gold is still up over $125 in little more than a week as investors bet the Federal Reserve will reaffirm its super-accommodative policies at its meeting this week.

Oil prices were mixed as investors weighed hopes for a US stimulus package with declining demand.

US crude recently fell 0.94pc to $41.21 per barrel and Brent was at $43.36, down 0.12pc on the day.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020