European indices close the session with declines. Modest declines in Dax, CAC and FTSE 100

<p>The major US stock indices are mostly lower, but declines in the German DAX, France CAC and UK FTSE 100 are modest, and Italy sees gains. </p><p>A snapshot of final numbers shows:</p><ul><li>German DAX -0.08%</li><li>France CAC, -0.03%</li><li>UK FTSE 100 under an -0.04%</li><li>Spain's Ibex -1.20%</li><li>Italy's FTSE MIB, +0.65%</li></ul><p>Italy's service PMI was stronger than expected and the highest level since July 2023 (51.2 versus 50.7 expected and 49.7 last month)</p><p>As European traders look for the exits, US stocks remain in negative territory:</p><ul><li>Dow Industrial Average is down -354 points or -0.92% at 38300</li><li>S&amp;P index -24.5 points or -0.49% at 4934.05</li><li>NASDAQ index -84 points or -0.54% at 15545</li></ul><p>The top 5 losers in the Dow are led by McDonalds who reported earnings earlier today:</p><ul><li>McDonald's (MCD) – Last: $284.00, Change: -$13.05, Change %: -4.39%</li><li>Walgreens Boots (WBA) – Last: $21.92, Change: -$0.72, Change %: -3.18%</li><li>3M (MMM) – Last: $92.81, Change: -$2.06, Change %: -2.18%</li><li>Verizon (VZ) – Last: $41.33, Change: -$0.80, Change %: -1.90%</li><li>Cisco (CSCO) – Last: $49.33, Change: -$0.85, Change %: -1.70%</li></ul><p>Looking at some of the winners today include:</p><ul><li>Nvidia, up 3.55%</li><li>Super Micro Computer is added to its meteoric rise with a gain of 8.96%</li><li>Caterpillar announced strong earnings this morning and its shares are up 1.93%</li><li>Alibaba (will report this week) is up 4.0%</li></ul><p>The small-cap Russell 2000 is trading down -33.35 points or -1.70% at 1929.32 as traders react to the higher US yields. Looking at the yield curve in the US:</p><ul><li>2-year yield 4.465%, +9.6 basis points</li><li>5-year yield 4.118%, +12.6 basis points</li><li>10-year yield 4.163% +13.3 basis points</li><li>30-year yield 4.347% +12.1 basis points</li></ul><p>The USD started the US session has the strongest of the major currencies, and has continued that trend widening its lead against the next strongest currency the JPY. The weakest currency is the GBP. As outlined in posts today, the GBPUSD finally broke out of its 1.2600 to 1.2800 with a move – and run – below the 1.2600 level. The low for the day has now cracked below the 38.2% retracement of the move up from the October 2023 low. That level comes in at 1.25245.</p>

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.