Asia Morning June 29

On Friday, U.S. stocks ended sharply lower, weighed down by financial stocks which were market leaders in the prior session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 730 points (-2.84%) to 25015, the S&P 500 sank 74 points (-2.42%) to 3009, and the Nasdaq 100 was down 252 points (-2.50%) to 9849.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: Daily Chart

Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView

Banks (-6.13%) stocks were dragged down by the Federal Reserve's announced measures to bar the nation's biggest banks from buying back their own stocks or increasing dividend payments in the third quarter. Huntington Bancshares (HBAN -11.02%) and Goldman Sachs (GS -8.65%) shares lost the most. 

Media (-4.93%) and Consumer Durables & Apparel (-4.74%) sectors were also under pressure. Social networking platforms Twitter (TWTR -7.40%) and Facebook (FB -8.32%) lost big.

Meanwhile, market sentiment was also dampened by a rebound in coronavirus infections across the U.S.

On the technical side, about 38.7% (36.7% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average, and 20.0% (13.5% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

U.S. official data showed that Personal Income fell 4.2% on month in May (-6.0% expected), Personal Spending jumped 8.2% (+9.3% expected), the biggest increase on record. The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index slipped to 78.1 in June (79.2 expected).

European stocks were broadly lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.4%. Germany's DAX dropped 0.7%, France's CAC slipped 0.2%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.2%.

U.S. government bond prices remained buoyed, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield sank further to 0.636% from 0.670% Thursday.

Spot gold price climbed $7.00 (+0.4%) to $1,771 an ounce.

Oil prices lack upward momentum, as resurging coronavirus cases caused worries about a slowdown in the economy's reopening and demand for energy. WTI crude oil futures (August) decreased 0.6% to $38.49 a barrel.

On the forex front, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index edged up 0.1% on day to 97.50, posting a three-day rally.

EUR/USD was flat at 1.1219. Later today, the eurozone's Economic Confidence Index for June will be released (82.5 expected).

GBP/USD slid 0.7% to 1.2335, the lowest level since May 28.

USD/JPY was little changed at 107.22. This morning, official data showed that Japan's retail sales rose 2.1% on month in May (+3.0% expected)