Euro steady ahead of ECB meeting, further earnings reports are coming out

US stocks fell on Wednesday dragged down by the decline in energy sector in response to the falling oil prices and the sharp fall in particular companies stocks. US dollar strengthened with US dollar index, a measure of the dollar value against a basket of six major currencies, rising 0.14%. S&P 500 slid 0.58% down on Wednesday with all its 10 sectors being in the red and basic materials and energy leading the fall. Dow Jones Industrial Average index dropped 0.28% while Nasdaq fell 0.84%. The pharmaceutical company Valeant lost almost 20% a day, hitting a fresh low in a year. St.Jude Medical Inc. slumped 8.86%, Range Recourses Corp fell 7.19%, Consol Energy lost 6.58%, EMC Corp. fell 6.26%. Goldman Sachs stocks were 3.13% down. Yahoo stocks plunged 5.2% on weak company’s quarterly earnings and profit missing expectations. Top performers were General Motors Corp. (+5.79%) due to better-than-expected performance, Baxter International Inc. (+3.91%), Target Corp. (+2.69%), United Technologies Corp. (+2.46%). Meanwhile, Bank of Canada left its interest rate unchanged at 0.5%. Today at 15:00 CET the US September existing home sales month-over-month will be released, the tentative outlook is positive. At the same time the September Leading Indicators will be released.
European stocks were on the increase on Wednesday due to the upbeat EU companies full-year and 4th quarter performance forecasts. The market was additionally supported by investors that were reluctant to open short positions ahead of the ECB meeting scheduled for Thursday. The EUR/USD pair declined 0.20%. This week the pair was steady ahead of the EBC meeting where the decision on interest rate will be taken. The Euro STOXX 50 index edged up 0.55% and pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index climbed 0.12% yesterday. Speaking of the national European indices performance, German DAX 30 fell 0.2%, French CAC 40 fell 0.5% and British FTSE 100 fell 0.3%. British chip designer, supplier of Apple Inc., ARM Holdings stocks jumped 7% on the news its third-quarter profit rose 27%. UK publisher Pearson saw its stocks plunging 13% on weak earnings outlook. Financial sector was in the red as well as several Swedish banks missed earnings expectations with Credit Suisse losing 4.5%. Today at 9:30 CET in Britain September retail sales year-over-year change was released, the reading is better than expected. Today at 12:45 CET in Eurozone the ECB will announce the decision on the rate, it is expected to remain unchanged at 0.5%. At 15:00 CET the August eurozone consumer confidence will be released, the tentative outlook is negative.
On Wednesday Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed almost 2% on the prospect of further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan after the data on the slowest increase in exports in over a year made investors concerned about possible recession. The USD/JPY pair lost some ground falling 0.16%. Chinese stocks closed 3% lower which is the record decline since mid-September fuelling worries about the Chinese economy strength. Tomorrow at 2:35 CET the Nikkei Japan Manufacturing PMI will be released, the tentative outlook is negative.
Brent crude oil price fell 1.8% on Wednesday having touched the lowest level in 14 days at $47.50. The US oil futures for December hit a 3-week low of $44.86. Yesterday the US Department of Energy Information Administration data showed a sharp rise of 8mln barrels in US crude stockpiles in the week to October 16.
Gold slid almost 1.0% down as investors were closing long positions. The US December gold futures lost 0.9% to $1167.1 a troy ounce.