Wall Street adds to the universal risk-off play

Wall Street closed lower on Monday following a negative day for European bourses within a risk-off environment while investors have been left bewildered and disappointed with the Trump trade falling apart.

Trump's policy update - Nomura

At the same time, there was a mixed bag of earnings and the double whammy leading to a sell-off in a potentially oversubscribed set of benchmarks in US stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19.04 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 20,052.42 while this psychological level is close to giving out and rather being a milestone, could well be the limit.The S&P 500 index finished down by 4.86 points, or 0.2%, at 2,292.56 while the Nasdaq Composite index lost 3.21 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 5,663.55.

Meanwhile, the US 10yr treasury yields fell from 2.46% to 2.41%, 2yr yields from 1.19% to 1.15% as investors look for safety in government bonds and this was following the performance of the German 10yr bund yields that also fell from 0.43% to 0.36%. Analysts at Westpac noted that this was in contrast to the French 10yr yield which rose from 1.08% to 1.16% - a 17 month high. "The latter has been unnerved by far right candidate Le Pen’s recent promise to exit the Eurozone and hold a referendum on EU membership."

Le Pen leading the polls for round 1 - not good for risk, great for the VIX