Stocks Retreat From Record Levels

Stocks retreat from record levels

Stock markets pulled back from record levels on Monday while focus was firmly on the game of football as Europe's wealthiest clubs seek to form a breakaway Super League

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Apr, 2021 ) :Stock markets pulled back from record levels on Monday while focus was firmly on the game of football as Europe's wealthiest clubs seek to form a breakaway Super League.

Among the dozen football clubs looking to form their own tournament, shares in the publicly-listed Italian side Juventus and England's Manchester United both jumped.

"The financial incentive for the clubs is plain to see, with a multi-billion Dollar package at the heart of the scheme, albeit it would forever break the integrity of the club game," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com.

Elsewhere on markets, bitcoin steadied around $56,500 after diving more than 15 percent at one point over the weekend after reports that the US Treasury could crack down on digital money laundering, according to NAB analyst Rodrigo Catril.

Bitcoin hit a record high above $62,000 last week ahead of the Wall Street debut of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, despite concerns about a bubble and the sustainability of the digital Currency market.

The dollar slid Monday versus its main rivals.

On Asian stock markets, Shanghai finished up 1.5 percent and Hong Kong ended 0.5 percent higher, despite China's first-quarter economic growth data skating under market expectations at the end of last week.

European markets were mostly lower in afternoon trading, with the DAX pulling away from a record set last week and the FTSE 100 at risk of slipping back below 7,000 points -- a level it broke above for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wall Street also opened lower, with the Dow dipping by 0.2 percent.

"US stocks are trading lower in early action, with the markets appearing to pause and reflect on the weekly gains as of late that has taken the S&P and Dow to record highs and the Nasdaq back to arm's length of all-time territory," said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.

Both the Dow and S&P finished at new peaks on Friday and also posted their fourth consecutive weekly gains, following on the heels of strong data for American housing starts, employment and retail sales.

The small drops as trading got underway on Monday "suggest that there isn't a lot of selling conviction despite the strong move over the last four weeks," said analyst Patrick J. O'Hare at Briefing.com.

"There's a little bit of everything in the mix today, including the good news that 50 percent of US adults have received at least one shot of the Covid vaccine," he added.

"All those little bits aren't adding up to much, though, for a market that has been chalking up gains every week for the last four weeks and might be looking to take a rest." - Key figures around 1330 GMT - London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,007.35 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.2 percent at 15,434.62 Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 6,314.23 EURO STOXX 50: UP less than 0.1 at 4,034.10 New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 34,138.74 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 29,685.37 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 29,106.15 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.5 percent at 3,477.62 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.2027 from $1.1983 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3951 from $1.3832 Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.20 pence from 86.57 pence Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.24 Yen from 108.80 yenBrent North Sea crude: UP less than 0.1 percent at $66.79 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP less than 0.1 percent at $63.14 per barrel.