【今日单词】
disconcerting
/ˌdɪskənˈsəːtɪŋ/
adjective
causing one to feel unsettled.
"he had a disconcerting habit of offering jobs to people he met at dinner parties"
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原文如下：
The day in the markets
by Adam Samson and Naomi Rovnick
(来自：The Financial Time 金融时报)
What you need to know
• Dollar and short-dated Treasury bonds fall on business and home sales gloom
• Wall Street steady after Monday’s fall
• Euro rises while continent’s shares edge down
The dollar and short-dated US government bond yields dropped yesterday after worse than feared business activity surveys and home sales data sparked fresh concerns over the health of the US economy.
An index of the greenback against half a dozen peers fell 0.6 per cent in New York trading, reversing a powerful gain in the previous session. The euro, which is by far the biggest weight in the dollar index, rose 0.3 per cent to $0.9975, having earlier traded as low as $0.9901.
In fixed-income markets, the yield on two-year US Treasuries, which reflect expectations for monetary policy, slid 0.08 percentage points to 3.25 per cent.
The falls are a reversal from Monday when expectations that Federal Reserve policymakers will take a hawkish stance at this week’s economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, sent the dollar and short-term bond yields rising.
Sales of new homes fell 12.6 per cent in July to an annualised rate of 511,000 units, the commerce department reported. Analysts had anticipated a far smaller drop of 2.5 per cent, according to a Refinitiv survey.
Separately, a survey of executives showed that a fall in business activity in the vast American services sector accelerated unexpectedly this month.
The S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index came in at a 27-month low of 44.1 in August, from 47.3 the previous month, much worse than the rise to 49.2 that was expected. A reading below 50 is a contraction.
“August flash PMI data signalled further disconcerting signs for the health of the US private sector,” said Siân Jones, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “Demand conditions were dampened again, sparked by the impact of interest rate hikes and strong inflationary pressures on customer spending, which weighed on activity.”
Wall Street stocks were steadier after falling sharply in the previous session as investors bet signs that the US economy may avoid a sharp slowdown would give the Fed the green light to continue with aggressive rate rises.
The S&P 500 was down 0.1 per cent by midday in New York, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 0.1 per cent. Europe’s Stoxx 600 share index closed 0.4 per cent lower.
The moves came ahead of the Jackson Hole central bankers’ symposium, at which Fed chair Jay Powell is expected to underline a commitment to raising interest rates to tackle stubborn inflation.
