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Lunchtime Wrap: Stocks fall on oil, China concerns; dollar gains

US equity-index futures fell for a second day as crude oil’s slide into a bear market and concerns over the health of China’s economy weighed on global stocks.

The dollar continued its advance after the Federal Reserve stayed on track for a December rate hike.

Mining and energy shares led a drop in Europe’s main equity gauge and most industrial metals fell, while disappointing forecasts from Richemont and Thyssenkrup also weighed on the index. Futures on the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped.

Oil extended a run of declines, heading for its longest losing streak on record. In Asia, financial shares performed particularly poorly following news that Beijing plans to set quotas for banks to pump credit into private companies. Treasury yields edged lower.

Softer Chinese producer-price gains, weak car sales and a disappointing outlook from a top online travel company combined to reignite lingering concerns about the health of the world’s second-biggest economy.

That’s capturing investor attention after a Fed rate meeting on Thursday that offered few surprises, with policymakers repeating their outlook for “further gradual” increases.

The offshore yuan held this week’s drop, amid little sign of an end to the US-China trade war in the wake of the midterm elections.

The pound weakened and gilts gained amid ongoing speculation over a potential Brexit deal. Emerging-market stocks and currencies slid.

Coming up

The UK economy probably picked up in the third quarter, economists forecast. GDP is seen rising 0.6% from the prior period and 1.5% on the year.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 0.7% as of 06:29 New York time, the largest dip in two weeks. Futures on the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.5%, the biggest decrease in more than a week.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 1.1%. The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 1.6% to the lowest in more than a week on the biggest tumble in more than two weeks.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.1% to 1 206.29, the highest in more than a week.

The euro decreased 0.1% to $1.1349, the weakest in more than a week. The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.3019, the weakest in a week. The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 113.84 per dollar, the biggest advance in more than a week.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped three basis points to 3.21%, the largest dip in two weeks. Germany’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to 0.43%, the biggest dip in two weeks.

The spread of Italy’s 10-year bonds over Germany’s rose seven basis points to 3.0118 percentage points to the widest in more than a week.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 1.6% to $59.71 a barrel, hitting the lowest in almost eight months with its 10th straight decline. Gold declined 0.4% to $1,218.72 an ounce, reaching the weakest in more than a week on its sixth consecutive decline and the biggest drop in more than a week.

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