Category: Stock Market News

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K. “will not change” as a result of the Brexit vote, President Barack Obama said Friday. In brief remarks at the start of a speech at Stanford University, Obama said he has spoken to outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the wake of the decision by U.K. voters to leave the European Union. The leaders agreed to work closely together in weeks ahead to make sure Britain’s transition out of the EU would be smooth. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remain a “cornerstone” of global security, Obama said.

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Oil futures continued to trade lower Friday afternoon, as the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union raised economic concerns and the potential for a slowdown in energy demand. August crude was at $47.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down $2.25, or 4.5%. It traded above the session’s low of $46.70, however, finding some support after Baker Hughes showed that the weekly number of active U.S. rigs drilling for crude fell for the first time in a month. The oil-rig count fell by 7 to 330 as of Friday. The total U.S. rig count edged down by 3 to 421.

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Legendary bond investor Bill Gross on Friday warned investors to brace for a “mini revolt” in the wake of the U.K.’s shocking decision to leave the European Union. Janus Global’s Gross predicted a possible “political domino effect” where marginal countries in the bloc could follow the U.K’s example. “A dysfunctional family before Brexit is likely to become even more dysfunctional,” he said in an interview with CNBC. “The EU may not be at risk,” but the grand vision that had underpinned the alliance is in jeopardy, he said. Gross, however, does not expect interest rates in the EU to drop significantly further from the current level. “The European Central Bank has gone about as far as it can go on negative rates,” he said. The yield on the German 10-year bund sank 17 basis points to negative 0.092% earlier.

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Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has left many scrambling to determine the impact on markets and various sectors. But one sector that is unlikely to be affected is biotech, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee. He said in a Friday note that he expects biotech to be “generally somewhat insulated from EU economic uncertainty,” since biotech drugs are life-saving, non-discretionary products and thus won’t face less EU business, the industry has little interaction with the UK and the sector is generally less economically sensitive and less elastic. Companies with EU revenue exposure include Amgen Inc. at about 22% of OUS sales, Biogen Inc. at about 25%-30%, Celgene Corporation at about 38%-40% and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. at a growing 25%, Yee said, based on 2016 estimates. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF dropped 3.3% in morning trade, compared with a 2.5% drop in the S&P 500 .

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U.S. stocks plummeted at the open Friday, joining a global stock selloff following the victorious “leave” vote in the U.K.’s referendum on European Union membership. The results sent shockwaves through financial markets across the world, with risk assets selling off and investors flocking to haven assets, like government bonds and gold. Meanwhile, the pound tanked 10% to trade at a 31-year low. The S&P 500 opened 37 points, or 1.8%, lower at 2,072. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 408 points, or 2.2%, to 17,617. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite began the session down 186 points, or 3.8%, at 4,726.

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Thomas Cook [uk:tcg] has temporarily suspended sales of currencies via its travel money website after seeing “overwhelming demand overnight and this morning,” the British vacation company said Friday. The surge in demand came as the results of the U.K. referendum on membership of the European Union came in, with the outcome a vote to leave the union. “Our immediate priority is to ensure that we have enough currency in store to fulfill outstanding orders. We hope to be back up and running as soon as possible,” Thomas Cook said. The pound [s:gbpusd] fell to $1.3230, its lowest level since 1985, as the vote swung to “leave” overnight, in its largest one-day drop ever. Sterling is currently trading hands on Friday at $1.3679.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve said it is carefully monitoring developments in global financial markets, in cooperation with other central banks, following the results of the U.K. referendum on membership in the European Union. The Fed said it is prepared to provide dollar liquidity through its existing swap lines with central banks, as necessary, to address pressures in global funding markets, which could have adverse implications for the U.S. economy.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve said it is carefully monitoring developments in global financial markets, in cooperation with other central banks, following the results of the U.K. referendum on membership in the European Union. The Fed said it is prepared to provide dollar liquidity through its existing swap lines with central banks, as necessary, to address pressures in global funding markets, which could have adverse implications for the U.S. economy.

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The British decision to exit the European Union will have no immediate impact on neighbor Ireland’s sovereign rating, but it will have a negative effect on the Irish economy in the near to medium term, Standard & Poor’s said Friday. The U.K. accounts for about 12.4% of Irish goods and 20% of Irish service exports, well below the 50% level seen when the two countries first joined the then European Community in 1973. “However, the sectors that serve the U.K. market are, on average, more labor intensive and any negative shocks could damage the mending Irish labor market,” the agency said in a statement. Other risks include a weakening of the financial service sector, and the ripple effect of lower demand from the rest of the EU. “Furthermore, many aspects of Britain’s relationship with the EU, and therefore the U.K.-Irish relationship, would be unclear, increasing uncertainties related to trade and investment between the two countries,” said S&P. “We do not believe the potential relocation of some U.K. businesses to Ireland would fully offset the overall negative impact of Brexit in the short to medium term.”

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde issued a statement asking for a smooth transition in the wake of the British vote to leave the European Union. “We urge the authorities in the U.K. and Europe to work collaboratively to ensure a smooth transition to a new economic relationship between the U.K. and the EU, including by clarifying the procedures and broad objectives that will guide the process,” she said. “We strongly support commitments of the Bank of England and the ECB to supply liquidity to the banking system and curtail excess financial volatility. We will continue to monitor developments closely and stand ready to support our members as needed.”

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