U.S. stocks fell, the dollar weakened versus the yen and Treasuries rose after the Wall Street Journal reported Special Counsel Robert Mueller was said to have impaneled a grand jury in the ongoing Russia probe.
The WSJ report a half hour before the close in New York sent the S&P 500 Index to its lows for the session before the measure reclaimed some ground to finish down 0.3 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a fresh record. Ten-year Treasury yields slumped and the yen strengthened. Crude fell below $49 a barrel, while gold slipped.
News that Mueller, who is probing Russia’s interference in 2016 U.S. elections as well as possible collusion with Trump campaign, has impaneled a grand jury, briefly rattled markets that have recently shown little reaction to persistent signs of turmoil in Washington. Stocks had traded little changed for most of the session with corporate earnings in focus before Friday’s jobs report.
Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The S&P 500 Index lost 0.3 percent as of 4 p.m. in New York.
- The Dow climbed less than 10 points to notch a fresh record.
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.1 percent.
- The MSCI All-Country World Index declined 0.2 percent.
- The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index advanced 0.9 percent to the highest in two weeks.
Currencies
- The yen gained 0.7 percent to $109.951.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index lost 0.1 percent and is down 8.9 percent in the year.
- The British pound declined 0.6 percent to $1.3138, the biggest drop in a month.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 2.22 percent.
- U.K. 10-year yields slipped nine basis points to 1.15 percent.
- Germany’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to 0.45 percent.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude slid 0.5 percent to $49.35 a barrel.
- Gold futures retreated 0.3 percent to $1,274.50 an ounce.
Asia
- The Kospi index fell as much as 2.2 percent, the most since Nov. 9. Samsung Electronics Co., which has the largest weighting on the index, dropped 2.5 percent.
- Japan’s Topix index closed little changed near a two-year high as investors parse through recent earnings results.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.2 percent as Rio Tinto shares tracked their London stock lower.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.3 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 percent.