Global stocks are selling off (SPY, SPX, DJI, IXIC, QQQ, IWIM)

Investing.com

It’s a risk-off kind of day in markets.

Global government-bond yields continue to slide as investors buy them for their perceived safety, while riskier assets like stocks are being sold.

US stocks started Friday’s trading session in the red. Near 9:41 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 139 points (0.78%), the S&P 500 was down 18 points (0.86%) and the Nasdaq was down 53 points (1.82%).

The financials sector was the largest decliner on the S&P 500.

All the major European and Asian indexes, including German’s DAX and Japan’s Nikkei, traded lower on Friday.

“Equity indices have gone for a dress-down and risk-off Friday, with major support levels breached or seeing meaningful tests,” wrote Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets in a note.

“With event-risk related to next week’s Fed policy update and a too-close-to-call UK referendum on EU membership the week after, investors are continuing to temper their appetite for risk assets into the weekend.”

The S&P 500 ascended towards an all-time high early in the week, but hasn’t yet found a catalyst to breach the record. The indexes closed little-changed on Thursday, with the Dow down 19 points.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was down 4 basis point to 1.632%, under the year-to-date low reached in February.

The German 10-year Bund yield fell to a new another all-time low, of 0.013%, just a few ticks away from turning negative.

US economic data is light today, with the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment report for June out at 10 a.m. ET. Just after 1 p.m., Baker Hughes will publish its weekly tally of US oil and gas rigs.