In European Equity Markets stocks were mixed Thursday as investors digested economic data and interest rate decisions from central banks, with markets showing minimal reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered around the flat-line, with autos sliding 0.7% to lead losses while oil and gas stocks added 0.7%. Finnish pharmaceutical company Orion Corp saw its shares climb 2.6% to lead the Stoxx 600, while Clariant gained 1.7% after the Swiss chemicals company sold its Masterbatches unit for $1.6 billion and announced a planned payout to shareholders.
In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar was roughly flat on Thursday morning awaiting gross domestic product data on Friday, little moved by a report showing that factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region has nearly stalled this month. The dollar has been bolstered by strong economic data reported earlier this week that has decreased expectations the Federal Reserve will continue its interest rate-cutting cycle in 2020. That data, and anticipation of GDP, allowed the market to brush off Thursday’s report that the Philadelphia Fed’s business conditions index fell to 0.3 in December from 10.4 in November.
In Commodities Markets oil prices hovered near three-month peaks on Thursday, buoyed by falling U.S. crude inventories and thawing trade relations between the United States and China. Brent crude futures were up 19 cents at $66.36 a barrel, heading for their sixth straight day of gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 7 cents to $61.00 a barrel. The contract for January delivery expires later on Thursday. Trading volume was thin before the Christmas holiday with news of President Donald Trump’s impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives failing to stir the oil market.
In US Equity Markets indices hovered near record highs on Thursday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Washington and Beijing would sign an initial trade deal in early January, with traders also shrugging off the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The S&P 500 was 0.18%, at 3,196.75 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.29%, at 8,853.54. Conagra Brands rose 17.9%, on track for its best day in over 30 years, after the Slim Jim maker beat quarterly sales and profit estimates. Cisco was up 2.6% as Barclays raised its rating on the stock to “overweight”. Trading volumes are expected to taper off ahead of the Christmas holidays.
In Bond Markets yields rose across Europe though, with those in higher-rated countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands up 3-4 bps on the day. Germany’s benchmark 10-year bond yield rose to -0.212%, a new six-month high, pushing past a peak touched on Friday. U.S. Treasury yields were steady on Thursday as traders weighed mixed economic signals on recent domestic labor market and business conditions against a largely encouraging macroeconomic picture. The benchmark 10-year yield was up less than a basis point at 1.92% in morning trading, after rising as high as 1.95% earlier.