The Syria effect is still on the American markets, but not on Wall Street, which benefits from the positive macro data arriving from China and Japan. As the price of oil falls and yields on T-bonds rise, futures on the New York Stock Exchange are positive: S & P 500 e Dow Jones + 0,2% Nasdaq + 0,4%.
Investors are eyeing the evolution of the ongoing negotiations in the US Congress on the Syrian issue, with the Obama administration pressing for a military intervention against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Over the weekend it emerged that Washington could wait for a UN report before taking any initiatives. Furthermore, the United States has given Damascus a week to deliver the arsenal of chemical weapons - believed to be in the possession of the Syrian regime - and thus avert the American military attack. US Secretary of State John Kerry claims that Assad (accused of using gas against the population last August 21 in the massacre on the outskirts of Damascus) controls the arsenal with his brother Maher and a general loyal to the regime.
According to Kerry, Assad has no intention of meeting the conditions set by the American ultimatum. The receding prospect of attack, however, helped ease the pressure on the Petroleum: in London the barrel of Brent (the benchmark crude oil from the North Sea) dropped 1,33 dollars compared to Friday's close, to 114,79 dollars, while on the New York Mercantile Exchange a barrel of wtf it dropped 24 cents, to $110,29.
On the front of government bonds, the hypothesis that the Federal Reserve will start tapering soon, ie the progressive reduction of the stimuli guaranteed by the Central Bank to the economy, weighs heavily. At the beginning of the session, the prices of Treasury – which move inversely to yields – are on the rise. The ten-year bond records rates down to 2,89%, the three-month bond travels at 0,02%, the two-year bonds show rates up to 0,443%. The same trend for 5-year bonds (1,709%) and thirty-year bonds (3,829%).
