A mounting currency crisis in Turkey that has investors thinking about the risk of possible contagion into other markets left the benchmark US equity indices nursing sharp falls last Friday (10 August) - Dow down -196-points or -0.77%, extending its losses into a third consecutive session and erasing its gains for the month of August. The broader S&P500 -0.71% and posted its worst single session drop since 27 June (highlighting the narrow range the index has traversed recently) albeit trading volumes were relatively light. The Materials (down -1.43%) and Financials (-1.16%) sectors led 10 of the eleven primary sectors lower, with Energy (up +0.27%) the only sector to finish in the black. NASDAQ -0.67% a day after recording its longest string of gains (8) since October last year. For the week, the Dow lost -0.59% and the S&P500 -0.25%, while the Nasdaq rose +0.35%. The US dollar surged +13% against the Turkish lira and prompted President Trump to double the existing steel and aluminum tariffs on imports from Turkey.
