Global equity markets slipped on Monday, hit by weak German business sentiment and another decline in oil, while Brazil slumped after incumbent Dilma Rousseff narrowly won a second term over an opponent seen as more pro-business.
Major indexes on Wall Street ended mixed. The benchmark S&P 500 closed slightly lower after last week's big gains, hurt by another drop in energy shares as oil neared a four-year low. Disappointing data showing the pace of growth in the U.S. services sector slowed in October to a six-month low also sapped buying sentiment.
Government bond yields were lower after the business climate index in Germany, the Euro zone's largest economy, fell to its lowest level in almost two years.
"The global markets are pretty much reflecting what's going on in the overall economy," said Bernard Baumohl, managing director and chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group in Princeton, New Jersey. "Europe is the epicenter of global weakness and Germany happens to be ground zero."
Brent crude oil futures pared early losses but were down 0.81 percent at $85.43 a barrel LCOc1, after Goldman Sachs cut its price forecasts. U.S. crude oil fell 0.4 percent to $80.71 a barrel, after hitting a low of $79.44 as signs of rising global supply threatened deeper price losses. [O/R]
MSCI's all-country world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was down 0.13 percent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of top European shares closed down 0.59 percent, erasing early gains. [.EU]
U.S. 10-year Treasury notes inched up 4/32 in price to yield 2.259 percent. Germany's 10-year note yield fell to 0.869 percent.
The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.21 percent to 85.55.
Brazil suffered big losses after Rousseff defeated Aecio Neves this weekend. Brazilian stocks plunged 2.6 percent to seven-month lows .BVSP, with state-run oil company Petrobras down 12.3 percent, and banks' shares off 4 to 6 percent.
Brazilian 5-year credit default swaps rose 10 basis points and bond yields rose as investors attempted to protect against further losses. 11EML
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 12.53 points, or 0.07 percent, to 16,817.94, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.95 points, or 0.15 percent, to 1,961.63 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC added 2.22 points, or 0.05 percent, to 4,485.93.
On the upside, Europe's bank stress tests beat market expectations, with only one in five of the region's top lenders failing at the end of last year, and many have since repaired their finances, results released on Sunday showed.
Join the Conversation