The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Oil surges as Apple puts drag on tech stocks
Oil surged to the highest price since mid-2015 after a pipeline blast in Libya, while U.S. technology shares slipped on speculation Apple Inc.’s phone sales will fall short of estimates. Trading volumes were thin on the day after Christmas.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell the most in a week and the S&P 500 edged lower, with Apple and its suppliers among the worst performers. Energy shares rallied with crude, which rose past $59 a barrel. Emerging-market currencies strengthened as commodities posted the longest winning streak in more than a decade. The Treasury sold $45 billion of three-month bills with a measure of demand at the lowest since January 2009, a show of investor anxiety before the U.S. is expected to breach its debt ceiling in March.
The major European stock exchanges were shut and markets overall were quiet as the stellar year for risk assets crawls to its end, with the possible exception of the cryptocurrency roller coaster. Next year could bring more drama, with tensions simmering between the U.S. and Russia, Italy’s parliament set to be dissolved for a risky European election, and a big decisions on the U.S. debt ceiling kicked down the road.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, bitcoin rallied as the biggest cryptocurrency attempted to move past a miserable five-day run. Japanese equity benchmarks dropped from the highest levels since the early 1990s, helping to pull the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down. The Brazilian real and South African rand were among the best performing currencies. Silver also jumped.