Tech stocks at record high as FAANGs and BATTS bite

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks on world indexes edged lower and the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar fell on Tuesday amid concerns over a trade war, even as U.S. technology shares extended recent gains to boost the Nasdaq index.

The so-called FAANG stocks — Facebook , Amazon , Apple , Netflix and Alphabet – rose. The S&P technology index <.SPLRCT> gained 0.2 percent, while MSCI’s global tech index < .dMIWO0IT00PUS> hit a record peak.

Still, investors were wary about trade discussions and equity index futures pared gains after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said President Donald Trump may seek separate talks with Canada and Mexico in a bid to get individual trade deals with the two countries.

Mexico said it will impose tariffs of 15 percent to 25 percent on U.S. steel products and on some agricultural goods from pork to potatoes, in retaliation against Trump’s own metals tariffs.

“The market is a little bit on edge when it comes to trade talks,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 69.95 points, or 0.28 percent, to 24,743.74, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 3.74 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,743.13 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 3.04 points, or 0.04 percent, to 7,609.50.

The Nasdaq earlier hit an intraday record.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> shed 0.15 percent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> lost 0.32 percent.

The latest development in a growing trade conflict between the U.S. and its commercial partners prompted selling, and the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar saw their biggest losses against the U.S. dollar.

The dollar index <.DXY>, tracking it against a basket of major currencies, fell 0.12 percent, with the euro up 0.12 percent to $1.1712.

The Mexican peso lost 1.45 percent versus the U.S. dollar at 20.37. The Canadian dollar fell 0.56 percent versus the greenback at 1.30 per dollar.

ITALY

U.S. Treasury yields fell as traders piled back into lower-risk government debt after Italy’s new prime minister vowed to enact economic policies that could expand the nation’s already heavy debt load.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 8/32 in price to yield 2.9095 percent, from 2.937 percent late on Monday.

There was some selling of Italian government bonds after their rebound of the last few days, as traders digested the first comments from new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Conte confirmed much of the coalition’s budget-busting agenda.

The 10-year Italian yield jumped 18 basis points to 2.736 percent after hitting a one-week low of 2.509 percent on Monday.

Copper hit a six-week high as concerns about the potential supply impact of wage negotiations at the world’s biggest copper mine helped push prices back above $7,000 a ton.

Copper rose 2.01 percent to $7,115.00 a ton.

Oil was mixed. U.S. crude rose 0.09 percent to $64.81 per barrel and Brent was last at $74.69, down 0.8 percent on the day.

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(Additional reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru, Marc Jones in London, Danilo Masoni in Milan and Helen Reid in London; Editing by Bernadette Baum)