Dollar Falls as U.S. Reform Hopes Dim; Stocks Drop

• Dollar Falls as U.S. Reform Hopes Dim; Stocks Drop

The dollar slid back to a 10-month low as President Donald Trump’s economic revitalization agenda once again faltered. European stocks dropped as some earnings disappointed, and gold climbed to the highest in two weeks.

The greenback lost ground against all but one of its G-10 peers on signs Trump’s health-care reform bill is effectively dead in its current form, after two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the plan. Sterling bucked the trend, slipping against the dollar as U.K. inflation unexpectedly slowed in June. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell following a grim earnings report from Ericsson AB, which led the decline. Iron-ore futures hit their highest since May on strong demand from Chinese steel mills.

While many traders had already dialed back their expectations Trump will be able to execute his pro-growth policies, the apparent death of the health-care bill lent a risk-off tone to markets. Some notable investors have become less sanguine as global equities continue to trade near record highs.

“Any hopes of dollar support from a successful vote on the Senate’s health-care bill look to be vanishing,” said Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “Near term, the dollar path of least resistance is down. We still think the data — inflation in particular — will provide the Fed with enough ammunition to hike in December and boost the dollar, but this is a fourth-quarter story.”

Here are the main moves in markets:

Currencies and bonds 

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.5 percent to its weakest since Sept. 8 as of 11:07 a.m. in London. The euro added 0.7 percent to $1.1554.
• The pound weakened 0.1 percent to $1.3047 after U.K. inflation unexpectedly fell in June.
• 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell one basis point to 2.31 percent after dropping five basis points last week.

Stocks

• Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index dropped 0.4 percent, as miners reversed yesterday’s gains.
• U.S. stock futures were little changed.

Commodities

• Gold climbed 0.2 percent to $1,236.87 an ounce.
• WTI crude rose 0.4 percent to $46.18, erasing early losses.
• Iron-ore futures jumped 4.5 percent, extending yesterday’s 2.4 percent gain.

Asia

• The Topix Index dropped 0.3 percent. It fell as much as 0.9 percent earlier after some officials at the Bank of Japan were reported to be increasingly concerned about the sustainability of its purchases of exchange-traded funds. More on that story here.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 1.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index and other mainland China markets erased losses and rose.
• The Australian dollar returned to a two-year high after central bank minutes signaled optimism on economic growth and wages.