Dow closes at new record high
US stocks advanced on Tuesday as better than expected corporate reports boosted investor confidence. The dollar strengthening continued: 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, edged up 0.01% to 93.929. The S&P 500 added 0.2% to 2569.13 with gains in financial and materials shares offsetting losses in healthcare stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% closing at record high 23441.76 led by 4.9% and 5.9% jump in Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) respectively on better than expected earnings and profit outlook. The NASDAQ Composite index added 0.2% to 6598.43.
European stocks slip
European stocks closed lower on Tuesday although country stock indexes ended higher. The euro recovered some of the previous day losses against the dollar while British Pound accelerated its decline. The Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.4% led by healthcare stocks. German DAX 30 added 0.1% closing at 13013.19 helped by 6% jump in Commerzbank (DE:CBKG). France’s CAC 40 closed 0.2% higher and UK’s FTSE 100 added less than 0.1% to 7526.54. Indices opened 0.1%-0.2% lower today.
Asian markets rise as China’s party congress ends
Asian stock indices are mostly higher. Nikkei lost 0.5% to 21707.62 snapping 16-day winning streak as yen inched higher against the dollar. Chinese stocks are higher after President Xi Jinping introduced his Politburo Standing Committee: the Shanghai Composite Index is 0.3% higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 0.5%. Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries gained 0.1% as Australian dollar fell 0.6% against the greenback after report Australian consumer prices declined to 1.8% over the year in the third quarter from 1.9% in the second quarter.
Oil lower ahead of US crude stock report
Oil futures prices are lower today as traders weigh top exporter Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih’s comment Tuesday their focus remained on reducing oil stocks in industrialized countries to the five-year average. Prices rose yesterday despite the American Petroleum Institute industry group report late Tuesday US crude stocks rose by 519 thousand barrels last week. December Brent crude rose 1.7% to $58.33 a barrel on Tuesday. Today at 16:30 CET the Energy Information Administration will release US Crude Oil Inventories.