The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has once again set the tone for global markets. FBI director, James Comey, told Congress on Sunday that he found no evidence of any wrongdoing in the recently discovered trove of Hillary Clinton's emails, boosting her campaign two days before the U.S. presidential election.
Asian equity markets snapped a three-day losing streak, while S&P 500 Index futures jumped following a nine-day slide in the underlying benchmark. Safe haven assets like the Japanese yen and gold declined.
Relief For Hillary
The FBI is sticking with its view that Clinton's handling of e-mails during her tenure as Secretary of State wasn't a crime, Comey said in a letter to Congress.
Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.FBI Director's November 6 Letter To Congress
The FBI on October 28 said that it was examining new e-mails potentially related to its investigation of Clinton's use of a private e-mail server, sparking a selloff in risk assets.
On Friday, the S&P 500 Index lost 0.2 percent, capping its worst losing streak since 1980. The NASDAQ Composite Index lost 0.2 percent as well.
The Democratic Party nominee has a 2.2 percentage-point lead over Donald Trump, according to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics. Clinton is ahead of her Republican rival by 44 percent to 40 percent, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
U.S. Jobs Growth
U.S. jobs rose at a steady pace in October after the country added 1,61,000 new jobs last month, according to a report from the Labor Department on Friday. The jobless rate fell to 4.9 percent while wages rose by the most since June 2009 on a year-on-year basis.
The data kept bets of the U.S. Federal Reserve raising borrowing costs in 2016 at 76 percent, according to futures rates compiled by Bloomberg.
Haven Assets Decline
Gold prices dropped for the first time in eight days after Clinton maintained her lead over Trump, and post comments from the FBI that absolved her from any criminal wrongdoing. The Japanese yen sank by the most in a month.
Oil prices snapped its losing streak but remained below the $45 per barrel mark over skepticism surrounding OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member nations' ability to arrive at a deal to cap output.
Positive Start?
The SGX Nifty Index traded largely unchanged at 8,440 as of 7:05 a.m. indicating a flat start for Indian equities that are on a four-day losing streak.
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