In European Equity Markets stocks paused for breath on Thursday after a strong rally in the previous session, though there were sharp gains from Britain’s Melrose and Norway’s Subsea after well-received results. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended flat, weighed down by falls among basic resources and banking stocks. Subsea 7, the Norwegian oil services company, was up 5.5 percent after it posted a fourth-quarter earnings beat and said it would pay a special dividend. Melrose Industries was up 10.5 percent after its full-year revenue more than tripled, helped by its acquisition of U.S. ventilation maker Nortek Industries. Engie was up 8.2 percent after it posted 2016 earnings in line with analysts’ expectations.

In Currency Markets the dollar gained to seven week highs against a basket of currencies on Thursday, after hawkish comments by a Federal Reserve official late on Wednesday encouraged investors to expect a near-term interest rate hike. The greenback was last up 0.64 percent against the Japanese yen at 114.43, the highest since Feb. 15 and gained 0.41 percent against the euro to $1.0503. The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained lower, with Aussie down 1.20 percent at $0.7583 and with Kiwi retreating 0.84 percent to $0.7084. The pound was little changed at a six-week low of $1.2287.  The dollar rose 0.38 percent against a basket of six major currencies to 102.17, its highest since Jan. 11.

In Commodities Markets  oil prices fell nearly 2 percent on Thursday after Russian oil production remained unchanged in February, showing weak compliance with a global deal to curb supply to tighten the oversupplied market. Both benchmarks were 1.8 percent lower with Brent futures $1.02 lower at $55.34 per barrel and U.S. crude down 98 cents lower at $52.85.  Spot gold was down 0.7 percent at $1,240.66 per ounce. On Monday, the metal rose to $1,263.80, its highest since Nov. 11. Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.4 percent to $18.33 an ounce. Platinum fell 1.7 percent to $997.65 after touching a five-month high on Monday, while palladium fell 0.2 percent to $773.50.

In US Equity Markets  stocks fell on Thursday as investors booked profits after a record day on Wall Street that propelled the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 21,000 for the first time ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.17 percent, at 21,080.68, the S&P 500 was down 0.35 percent, at 2,387.38 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4 percent, at 5,880.32. Shares of Snap Inc, the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, were up 45.7 percent. The stock debuted at $24 after its IPO was priced at $17. Kroger lost 2.9 percent after the supermarket operator reported a surprise decline in holiday-quarter same-store sales. Monster Beverage rose 13.7 percent following a quarterly revenue that beat analysts’ average estimate.

In Bond Markets U.S. two-year Treasury yields hit their highest in more than 7-1/2 years on Thursday, while other U.S. yields hit multi-week or multi-month highs on increasing expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its March meeting. U.S. 30- and seven-year yields hit more than two-week highs of 3.092 percentand 2.329 percent, respectively, while five-year yields touched a two-month high of 2.032 percent. U.S. 10-year notes were last down 7/32 in price, while their yield rose to 2.485 percent from 2.462 percent late Wednesday.