Stocks slip as record month nears end; oil falls: markets wrap

Stocks in Asia swung from gains to losses along with US and European equity futures as investors monitored progress on the path to a coronavirus vaccine on the final day of a record month for global equities. Oil retreated.

S&P 500 futures began the trading week higher, then slipped, as did Australian and Japanese shares. A gauge of the dollar extended its recent retreat to the lowest level since April 2018. Chinese equities outperformed as activity in the country’s manufacturing sector picked up faster than expected in November and the central bank unexpectedly injected funds into the financial system. Oil retreated after an OPEC+ agreement to postpone an output increase planned for January remained elusive before a meeting Monday. Gold dropped.

On Sunday, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said the federal government hopes to quickly review and approve requests from two big drugs makers for emergency approval of their Covid-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Trump administration is adding SMIC and CNOOC Ltd. to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies.

Global equities are up 13% in November as positive vaccine news helped drive expectations that a global economic recovery can pick up in 2021, helping flows into companies with earnings more closely tied to a rebound in growth. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expects a large proportion of the public across major developed economies to receive a vaccine by the middle of 2021, driving a “sharp pickup” in global growth. While New York City schools will begin to reopen Dec. 7, California cases rose to a record after Los Angeles and San Francisco imposed tighter restrictions.

“As long as the trajectory in economic data is one for improvement, then there is room for the cyclical areas to outperform,” Nader Naeimi, a multi-asset fund manager at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., said on Bloomberg TV. “Those cyclical, value areas are likely to be beneficiaries of the environment we are going into post vaccine and more normalisation.”

A full meeting of OPEC and its allies will take place Monday, and unless an agreement is revised this week, they will restart about 1.9 million barrels a day of halted output threatening to undermine the recent surge in crude prices.

These are some key events coming up:

• OPEC holds a virtual full ministerial meeting to make a final decision on whether a production supply hike should proceed as scheduled in January.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia holds a policy meeting on Tuesday.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• The US employment report on Friday is expected to show more Americans headed back to work in November, though at a slower pace than last month.

Here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures dipped 0.6% as of 2:36 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge rose 0.2% on Friday.
• Japan’s Topix index fell 1.5%.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.1%.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 1.3%.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.9%.

Currencies

• The yen was at 103.87 per dollar, up 0.2%.
• The offshore yuan traded at 6.5783 per dollar.
• The euro bought $1.1971, up 0.1%.
• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1%.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries remained at 0.84%.
• Australia’s 10-year yield held at 0.90%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $44.86 a barrel.
• Gold was at $1,770.03 an ounce, down 1%.