Global Markets: U.S. Dollar, yields up on data, North Korea lull
By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday while Wall Street indexes were flat after solid retail data and North Korea's leader delayed a decision on firing missiles.
U.S. data showed the biggest increase in retail sales in seven months in July as consumers boosted purchases of motor vehicles and lifted discretionary spending, suggesting the economy continued to gain momentum.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un said he would watch the actions of the United States for a while longer before making a decision on whether to fire missiles towards the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, the country's official news agency said on Tuesday.
But stocks did not appear to get a lift from the data and the lull in rhetoric between the United States and Korea a day after the S&P 500 achieved its third 1-percent gain so far this year.
"Once you have a good lift in the market like yesterday, it's going to take a little more confidence that it can be sustained, especially at the valuations we're at. We need to have a little more calm down on the political front and geopolitical side," said Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer for equities at Charles Schwab Investment Management in San Francisco.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10.03 points, or 0.05 percent, to 22,003.74, the S&P 500 gained 0.19 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,466.03 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.93 points, or 0.01 percent, to 6,341.16.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.09 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.09 percent.
Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields hit one-week highs as investors pared low-risk bond holdings on signs of easing U.S.-North Korean tensions and strong domestic retail sales and regional factory activity data.
Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 10/32 in price to yield 2.2535 percent, from 2.218 percent late on Monday.
The dollar rose to its highest level in nearly three weeks against a basket of major currencies after the data.
The dollar index rose 0.47 percent, with the euro down 0.42 percent to $1.1729.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.76 percent versus the greenback at 110.48 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2861, down 0.79 percent on the day.
Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,272.83 an ounce.
Oil prices extended Monday's heavy sell-off, weighed down by a surge in the U.S. dollar and signs of weaker demand in China, the world's second-largest consumer.
U.S. crude fell 0.59 percent to $47.31 per barrel and Brent was last at $50.41, down 0.63 percent on the day.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ended the day unchanged. But Japan's Nikkei stock index ended 1.1 percent higher, boosted by the weaker yen, more than erasing the previous days losses.
(Additional reporting by Nigel Stephenson, John Geddie and Kit Rees in London, Lisa Twaronite in Tokyo, Editing by Gareth Jones and Nick Zieminski)
