Market Drivers – European Session 22-10-2021

The S&P500 and Nasdaq were down at the opening session on Friday after chipmaker Intel warned of falling profit margins.

Snap topped the losses among social media companies after reporting that digital ads had been affected by Apple’s privacy changes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.64 points, or 0.01%, to open at 35,607.72 points.

The S&P 500 fell 3.66 points, or 0.08%, to 4,546.12.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 57.64 points, or 0.38%, to 15,158.07 points, at the open.

IHS Markit’s Manufacturing PMI declined to 59.2 (preliminary) from 60.7. This reading missed the market expectation of 60.3. IHS Markit’s Services PMI rose to 58.2 (preliminary) from 54.9 in September. This reading surpassed analysts’ estimate of 55.1.

Retail Sales in Canada rose by 2.1% on a monthly basis in August, this reading followed July’s contraction of 0.6% and came in slightly better than the market expectation for an increase of 2%.

The main unit of China Evergrande Group, Hengda Real Estate Group Co, announced on Friday that it has not made substantial progress in disposing of the real-estate giant’s assets, as reported by Reuters.

The dollar fell against its rival currencies and is heading towards recording the second weekly decline in a row, due to news that the debt-laden Chinese Evergrande Group avoided a default that supported the appetite for high-risk assets. The dollar index fell 0.1% to 93.61 points, which puts it on a path towards recording a decline for the second week.

Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,790.91 an ounce. US gold futures rose 0.6% to $1,792. The dollar index is heading down for the second week, making gold more attractive to holders of other currencies.