Apple's slide takes shine off global stock rally

Global equity markets edged lower on Wednesday, pulled down over concerns about the launch of Apple`s new iPhone X, while the dollar rose after a report showed U.S. producer prices rebounded in August, suggesting a strong economy.

The yield on European and U.S. government debt rose, with the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury hitting a 2-1/2 week high.

Oil prices rose after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said a global surplus was starting to shrink, even as U.S. data showed another surge in crude inventories due to the ongoing impact from Hurricane Harvey on the energy complex.

Stocks on Wall Street were little changed but a gauge of more than 2,400 stocks worldwide edged lower after setting consecutive closing record highs the past three sessions.

European equities pared earlier losses to edge higher thanks to gains in oil and banking stocks, which offset weak chipmakers and a fall in miners.

Chipmakers in Europe that supply Apple were among the worst performers, with AMS down 3.9% and Dialog Semiconductoroff 1.6%. STMicro ended up 0.1%.

Chipmakers have been the best-performing among Europe`s tech stocks this year, accounting for a large chunk of the sector`s outperformance. AMS shares have gained 165% year-to-date.

MSCI`s all-country world stock index shed 0.2%, but the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.02% and the Euro STOXX 50 rose 0.3%.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19.16 points, or 0.09%, to 22,138.02. he S&P 500 lost 0.17 points, or 0.01%, to 2,496.31 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.22 points, or 0%, to 6,454.50.

The launch of Apple`s iPhone X will test whether inflation is going to be weak as investors gauge demand for a product whose price starts at $999, said Mike Bell, global markets strategist with JP Morgan Asset Management in London.

"If it`s relatively healthy, I think it shows that there is still quite a lot of pricing power for U.S. companies and consumers have confidence," Bell said.

The dollar index, which tracks the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up 0.69% at 92.512.

The index rose after the U.S. Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand increased 0.2% in August after slipping 0.1% in July. The rebound was driven by a surge in the cost of gasoline.

The euro fell 0.75% to $1.1875 while the Japanese yen weakened 0.44% versus the greenback at 110.64 per dollar.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 7/32 in price to yield 2.1953%. Their German counterpart, 10 year Bunds , rose 3 basis points in price to yield 0.404%.

Oil prices jumped after the IEA report but then pared gains.

U.S. crude rose $1.07 to settle at $49.30 per barrel and Brent rose 89 cents to settle at $55.16 a barrel.

"A sharp rebound in U.S. oil production compared with last week has limited gains in crude prices as concerns grow that oil output is recovering faster than refining capacity coming online," said Abhishek Kumar, senior energy analyst at Interfax Energy’s Global Gas Analytics in London.