On August 1 American stock markets opened with increase but after a half an hour stock indices edged lower. By 6:45 pm (Moscow time) Dow Jones index fell down by 0.37 % to 12098 points, S&P 500 – by 0.38%, Nasdaq – by 0.24% to 2750 points.
Thus, the agreement between Democratic Party and the Republicans which allowed to escape from the technical default in the USA which could happen on August 2 had insignificant impact on the stock markets.
The same situation was observed in Europe: at the beginning of the trading session British FTSE 100, German DAX and French CAC40 grew up but later showed sharp drop. As a result, by the end of the trading session German index dip by almost 2%, French – by more than 1.5%.
In Russia stock indices are still positive: MICEX increased by 1.17% to 1725 points, RTS – by 1.06% to 1987 points, though at the beginning of the trading day RTS was above the 2000-point level.
After August 2 US Congress is due to vote for the bill which will allow the USA to avoid the technical default. Despite the agreement between Barack Obama and the leaders of the Republicans the threat of default remains because some republicans have announced their disagreement with the compromise. Markets’ nervousness was also caused by the US macroeconomic data. According to Bloomberg’s report, US ISM Manufacturing hit its record low for the last two years. Besides, Bloomberg-TV informs that on August 1 the defense companies stocks depreciated because Obama’s Administration is plan to reduce the military expenses.