Market Wrap: Stocks, Bonds, Commodities
On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed lower, with the S&P 500 declining 19 points (-0.28%) to 6,861, and the Nasdaq 100 down 101 points (-0.41%) to 24,797.
The Dow Jones dropped 267 points (-0.54%) to 49,395.
Apple (AAPL) slipped 1.43% after rebounding for two sessions.
Walmart (WMT) declined 1.38% despite better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
eBay (EBAY) rose 3.13% and Etsy (ETSY) jumped 9.28%. eBay announced its acquisition of Depop, a popular second-hand clothing app, from Etsy for 1.2 billion dollars.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) jumped 9.38% as quarterly earnings exceeded market expectations.
Deere & Co (DE) surged by 11.58%. The agricultural machinery maker raised its full-year net income forecast.
Carvana (CVNA) plummeted 7.95% as the online used car retailer’s quarterly results fell short of expectations.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was down 1.2 basis points to 4.071%.
European stocks closed in the red, the DAX 40 falling 0.93%, the CAC 40 down 0.36%, and the FTSE 100 down 0.55%.
Gold added 20 dollars to 4,997 dollars an ounce.
U.S. WTI crude futures bounced a further 1.35 dollars (+2.08%) to 66.40 dollars a barrel, a six-month high. Oil prices remained buoyed by growing worries that the U.S. will strike Iran soon.
Also, U.S. data showed an unexpected reduction of 9.0 million barrels in crude-oil stockpiles and a bigger-than-expected reduction of 3.2 million barrels in gasoline stockpiles.
Market Wrap: Forex
The U.S. dollar remained firm against other major currencies, with the dollar index climbing to 97.86.
The latest U.S. initial jobless claims declined to 206,000, down for a second consecutive week.
The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index rose to 16.3 in February (vs 7.0 expected, 12.6 in January).
EUR/USD slipped 10 pips to 1.1772.
USD/JPY rose 22 pips to 155.04. Japan's core inflation rate slowed to 2.0% year on year in January, lower than expected.
Also, Japan’s machinery orders jumped 19.1% month on month in December, much faster than expected.
GBP/USD dropped 31 pips to 1.3460.
AUD/USD increased 17 pips to 0.7058. In Australia, an addition of 50,500 people got full-time employment in January, much more than expected.
USD/CHF advanced 21 pips to 0.7749, while USD/CAD dipped 6 pips to 1.3689.
Bitcoin traded slightly higher at levels around 66,800 dollars.
Source: Trading Central Economic Insight