US stocks advance while Dow slides
US financial markets inched higher on Wednesday as losses in telecommunications shares limited gains in financials while Dow finished at its lowest in 2017. The dollar recovered from previous day losses. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, closed 1% higher at 10.286. The S&P 500 ended 0.2% higher settling at 2271. 89 led by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JP Morgan shares. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.1% to 19804.72, closing in the red for the fourth straight day and further below the psychologically important level 20000. The high tech index Nasdaq rose 0.3% to 5555.65.
European Central Bank meets today
European stocks ended moderately higher on Wednesday on positive corporate reports. The euro and British Pound weakened against the dollar following Tuesday’s sharp rebound after UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the parliament will vote on government’s negotiated terms of the country’s exit from the European Union. The Stoxx Europe 600 ended 0.2% higher. Germany’s DAX 30 outperformed as it rose 0.5% to 11599.39 . France’s CAC 40 underperformed sliding 0.1% and UK’s FTSE 100 index inched down 0.4% to 7247.61.
Asian stocks mixed
Asian stocks are mixed today as investors are cautious ahead of Trump's inauguration on Friday. Nikkei rose 0.9% to 19068.00 as yen weakened against the dollar after Fed Chair Yellen plans to gradually lift rates until the end of 2019. Shares of Toshiba tumbled 16% on news it could post a loss of 700 billion yen ($6.1 billion) at its US nuclear reactor business, much bigger than the 500 billion yen loss it had earlier warned. Chinese tocks are lower on tighter liquidity concerns ahead of the long Lunar New Year holidays. Both the Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index are down 0.4%. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index gained 0.2% while the Australian dollar edged higher against the dollar.
Oil prices recover on expected US crude stocks drawdown
Oil future prices prices are recovering today after a drop on Wednesday on forecast of higher US shale output as price rises. The US Energy Information Administration projected that shale oil production would increase to 4.75 million barrels a day in February. February Brent crude closed 2.8% lower at $53.92 a barrel on Wednesday on London’s ICE Futures exchange. The American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday US crude stocks fell by 5.04 million barrels last week, more than the 900000 barrels expected by analysts. Today at 17:00 CET the Energy Information Administration will release the Crude Oil Inventories.