All 3 Main US Stock Indices Slip
US stock indices retreated on Thursday led by healthcare, materials and telecom shares. The dollar rebounded: 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, ended 0.3% higher at 93.683. Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.3% to 24508.66. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 2652.01. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.3% to 6856.53.
Euro slips on lower ECB inflation forecast
European markets extended losses on Thursday despite expanding business activities in euro-zone. The euro extended losses against the dollar while British Pound continued advancing. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.5%. Germany’s DAX 30 lost 0.4% to 13068.08. France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.8% and UK’s FTSE 100 ended 0.7% lower at 7448.12. Indices opened 0.1%-0.4% lower today.
Asian indices extend losses
Asian stock indices are lower tracking Wall Street overnight. Nikkei fell 0.7% to 22538.86 on continued yen strength against the dollar. Chinese stocks are falling: the Shanghai Composite Index is 0.3% lower and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is down 1.1%. Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries Index is 0.2% lower with Australian dollar rally against the greenback intact.
Oil up on North Sea pipeline outage
Oil futures prices are edging higher today lifted by the Forties pipeline outage in the North Sea. Prices rose yesterday after multinational chemicals group Ineos said it is too early to say how long the repairs to the pipeline will take to complete. Brent for February settlement rose 1.4% to end the session at $63.31 a barrel on Thursday.