Global markets down on profit booking ahead of Fed meet

By Gautam Broker, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

The US equity markets saw mild profit booking on Monday ahead of key events like Federal Reserve's policy meet and German's constitutional court ruling.

Technology stocks dragged the US markets lower; Intel tanked again, falling 3.8% after profit warning on Friday.

Markets were also under pressure on China slowdown; Chinese imports yesterday stood at 2.6% as against expectations of 3.5%.

Volatility Index was up by 13.2% yesterday to 16.3.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel finds support on her stance for ECB bond buying from leader of key Bavarian ally.

Greece indicates difficulty in convincing Troika on austerity plan.

European Union data was ok yesterday: French industrial production increased 0.2% in August MoM.

France manufacturing production was up 0.9% MoM as against expectation of contraction of 0.5%.

Eurozone Investor confidence stood at minus 23.2 in September as against minus 30.3 in August.

US equity markets on Monday: Dow Jones fell 0.4% to 13,254.3 and S&P 500 Index was down 0.6% to 1,429.1. Nasdaq Composite dropped 1%

European markets at close: DAX declined 0.01 and CAC was down 0.4%. FTSE went down 0.03%. Spain lost 0.3% and Italy was down 0.1%

Asian markets opened lower.

Important week ahead

Wednesday: German court ruling on ESM, Unveiling of EU banking union plan,  Dutch General Elections 

Thursday:  FOMC Rate Decision, Bernanke Press Conference

Friday: EU Finance Ministers meet on Spain, Greece  

Currencies

Euro saw some profit booking yesterday; it closed at 1.275 to the US dollar as against recent high of around 1.282

Dollar index slightly recovered to 80.35 as against 80.15 yesterday.

Yen was weaker by 0.1% today. Australian dollar continued to hold 1.03 against the US dollar.

Commodities

Crude was rangebound on Monday. Brent crude fell 0.2% today morning at USD 114.5 a barrel and WTI crude was at around USD 96 a barrel.

Gold saw mild profit booking yesterday. It was up by 0.2% today at USD 1735 an ounce.

China concerns weighed on copper, which lost 1% today 

What to watch out for

German WPI

UK Trade Balance

US NFIB Biz Optimism Index

US Trade Balance