US equities fell on Wed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 211.17 pts, or
0.58%, to close at 35,931.05. The S&P 500 index fell 0.26%. The tech-heavy
Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.33%.
The Dow was dragged down by a 4.7% drop in Visa (V US). Amazon (AMZN
US, +0.2%) said it will stop accepting payments made with Visa credit
cards issued in the UK starting next year, citing high fees.
Nvidia (NVDA US, -3.12%) rose 5.16% in after-hours trade on Wed after 3Q
revenue beat. It also maintained its quarterly dividend.
The US-listed shares of China-based Baidu (BIDU US) fell 5.5%, despite
matching estimates with a 13% jump in sales.
Crude oil futures tumbled to their lowest level in nearly six weeks. According to
Bloomberg, US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping
discussed releasing oil from their respective strategic reserves during their
virtual summit Mon. The front-month Brent and WTI futures closed down $2.15
at US$80.28/bbl and $2.40 at US$78.36/bbl respectively. In the US, natural gas
prices fell with crude futures.
However, European natural gas prices surged on Wed, after a delay in the
approval process of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will link Russian gas
fields to Germany. The price of gas next month in the Netherlands, which is a
benchmark for the region, jumped almost 8%. Bloomberg reports that Goldman
Sachs analysts believe the pipeline will not be up and running until Feb, next
year, missing the peak of winter heating season.
The most actively traded US gold futures (Dec) contracts settled up $16.10, or
0.9%, at US$1,870.20/oz. December silver rose 22.3 cents, or 0.9%, to end at
US$25.167/oz.
