U.S. and Asia stocks moved higher while European markets rallied to a two-week high on Wednesday as oil and other commodities posts significant gains. Crude oil rallied 4% on Wednesday and added a further 0.8% in Thursday’s early Asian trading session to settle at $37.8 a barrel. The commodity rallied after a newly released report showed an unexpectedly large decline in U.S. stockpiles.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 added 2.67% to trade at 366.39 as a number of the index’s sector post impressive gains. The basic materials sector led the gainers with a 6.35% climb, followed the oil and gas sector with a 4.73% gain. The Stoxx Europe 600 erased Tuesday’s losses after suffering a few days of choppy, low-volume trading during the holiday season. European markets will remain closed on Friday for Christmas Day and U.K. markets will be closed on Monday as well for Boxing Day. The recent weakness provided investors with attractive bargains in the commodities sector, which have been battered recently due to oversupplies that sent metal and oil prices down. Overall, metal pricing has suffered its worst declines since 2008’s global financial crisis. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index rose 2.6% to close at 6,240.98 as the resource-related shares, accounting for around a fifth of the index, rallied. The German DAX 30 rose 2.28% to trade at 10,727.64 and the French CAC 40 gained 2.3% to trade at 4,674.53 as newly released economic data showed that public debt has fallen in the third quarter. Spain’s IBEX 35 index gained 2.4% to settle at 9,641.
U.S. stocks finished higher for the third consecutive session. Similarly to Europe, the materials and energy sectors led with impressive gains. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 25.32 points, or 1.24%, to trade at 2,064.29, putting the index in positive territory for the year. More than 90 of the components included in the index finished higher, lifting all 10 sectors out of the red. The gainers were led by the energy and materials sectors with 4.2% and 2.4% gains, respectively. All 40 assets included the index’s energy sector rose higher, while 6 have managed double-digit percentage gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 185.34 points, or 1.06%, to trade at 17,602.61. The index has been swaying recently, as yesterday’s session marked the fifteenth session of triple-digit moves this month. The Nasdaq Composite rose 44.82 points, or 0.9%, to close Wednesday’s trading session at 5,045.93.
This week’s major economic data releases continue with today’s release of U.S. jobless claims. The week will conclude with the release of Japanese unemployment and inflation rates on Friday. U.S. and European markets will be closed on Friday for Christmas Day.