NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) – World stock markets and energy prices fell on Tuesday after energy consumers and producers both predicted an oil glut was likely to persist well into next year.
Long-dated U.S. bond yields rose to their highest levels in about three months, while the U.S. dollar edged up.
The International Energy Agency said a sharp slowdown in global oil demand growth, coupled with increasing inventories and rising supply, mean the market will be oversupplied at least through the first six months of 2017.
The IEA’s comments followed a surprisingly bearish outlook from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Monday that also pointed to a larger surplus next year.
U.S. financial shares fell on weakened prospects of an interest rate hike in the near-term, adding to the negative tone in U.S. stocks, which ended more than 1 percent lower.
Volatility in stocks and other assets has picked up since Friday as investors have weighed chances of an interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 20-21 meeting.
Three Fed officials on Monday took a dovish stance on interest rates, in contrast to more aggressive comments from other officials in the past two weeks.
"You had this absolute rush of speakers and so many different points of view … It certainly muddied the waters to a degree," said Jim Tierney, CIO of U.S. Concentrated Growth at AllianceBernstein in New York.
Brent crude dropped $1.22, or 2.5 percent, to settle at $47.10 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell $1.39, or 3 percent, to settle at $44.90.
The S&P 500 energy index was down 2.9 percent, leading sector declines, while the S&P financial index fell 1.8 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 258.32 points, or 1.41 percent, to 18,066.75, the S&P 500 dropped 32.02 points, or 1.48 percent, to 2,127.02 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 56.63 points, or 1.09 percent, to 5,155.26.
MSCI’s all-country world stock index was down 1.1 percent, while European shares closed off 1 percent, marking their fourth down day.
Another trigger for the turmoil of the last few days was disappointment that the European Central Bank did not signal an extension of its bond-buying stimulus program at its meeting last Thursday.
That helped boost yields on government bonds in the euro zone, many of which were negative, as well as yields in Japan, the United States and elsewhere.
On Tuesday, long-dated U.S. Treasury yields rose to their highest levels in about three months on heavy Treasury and corporate debt supply and on concerns about global central bank policy. The Treasury Department saw weak demand for a $12 billion sale of 30-year bonds.
The yield curve also steepened on reports the Bank of Japan plans to make negative interest rates a centerpiece of its future easing program.
Long bonds have underperformed in the past month, in line with a steepening yield curve in Japanese government bonds.
Benchmark 10-year notes fell 18/32 in price to yield 1.73 percent, after rising as high as 1.752 percent, the highest since June 3.
The U.S. dollar received a boost from the reports on the BOJ. The dollar was last up 0.79 percent against the yen at 102.64 yen.
The move "could be reflecting some dovish expectations ahead of the Bank of Japan meeting next week," said Eric Viloria, currency strategist at Wells Fargo Securities in New York.