REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
A member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi wears a makeshift gas mask as others run away from shooting during clashes in front of Azbkya police station during clashes at Ramses Square in Cairo, August 16, 2013
ked, sending interest rates higher.
First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 15,027.8, -53.6, -0.3%
- S&P 500: 1,647.6, -8.4, -0.5%
- NASDAQ: 3,593.5, -9.8, -0.2%
And now, the top stories:
- There were no major market-moving economic reports or earnings announcements out today. Market-watchers expect things to be pretty quiet until Wednesday when the Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its July Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
- Emerging markets got rocked overnight, led by Indonesia where the Jakarta Composite Index plunged by 5%. A weak currency and falling commodity prices have caused the country's current account deficit to wident to $9.8 billion or 4.4% of GDP in Q2.
- Oil prices pulled back a bit today, but continues to trend higher. ""The disruptions in Libyan oil supplies have lasted far longer than we initially thought with no near-term resolution in sight, which was further complicated by the involvement of the military late last week," said Goldman Sachs' Jeff Currie in a new note to clients.
- Some have tried to attribute some of the move to the ongoing chaos in Egypt, home to the important Suez Canal. However, Morgan Stanley's Adam Longson believes that fear may be overblown. "Even during the height of the Arab Spring in 2011, there were no disruptions to Egyptian oil production," wrote Longson in a note to clients. "With the army still in control of Egypt and likely securing port infrastructure and oil production facilities, the situation is unlikely to be different in 2013."
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