Mosaic fell 8.2 per cent after the producer of crop fertilisers reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also named a new chief financial officer.
In the crypto market, bitcoin soared to another record before pulling back. Trump has embraced cryptocurrencies generally and pledged to make his country the crypto capital of the world. Bitcoin got as high as $US89,995 ($138,032), according to CoinDesk, before dropping back toward $US87,000. It started the year below $US43,000.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rallied as trading of US. government bonds resumed following Monday’s Veterans Day holiday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.42 per cent from 4.31 per cent late Friday.
Treasury yields have climbed sharply since September, in large part because the US. economy has remained much more resilient than feared. The hope is that it can continue to stay solid as the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates in order to keep the job market humming, now that it’s helped get inflation nearly down to its 2 per cent target.
Some of the rise in yields has also been because of Trump. He talks up tariffs and other policies that economists say could drive inflation and the US. government’s debt higher, along with the economy’s growth.
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Traders have already begun paring forecasts for how many cuts to rates the Fed will deliver next year because of that. While lower rates can boost the economy, they can also give inflation more fuel.
The next update on inflation will arrive on Wednesday, when the US. government gives the latest reading on prices that US. consumers are paying. Economists expect it to show inflation accelerated a bit to 2.6 per cent in October from 2.4 per cent the month before. But they’re looking for underlying inflation trends, which ignore prices for groceries and fuel that can jump sharply from month to month, to stay steady at 3.3 per cent.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.8 per cent for one of the worst falls. The Hang Seng closed below the 20,000 level for the first time since China announced a stimulus package in September.
