Global equities rebound ahead of European Central Bank meeting

Dmitry Lukashov IFC Markets

Top daily news

Stock markets are rising currently ahead of European Central Bank meeting after Wall Street climbed for a second consecutive day on Wednesday. Twitter shares rose 2.36% amid news the social networking company has begun testing a dislike button on the app though it is not like the dislike button on YouTube. Apple shares slid 0.51% underperforming market amid reports Apple will delay the return of its employees to office by at least a month to October at the earliest.

Forex news

Currency Pair	Change
EUR USD	+0.02%
GBP USD	+0.25%
USD JPY	-0.06%
AUD USD	+0.64%

The Dollar weakening is intact currently ahead of the US Labor Department report at 14:30 CET expected to show 350 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 360 thousand the previous week. 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, lost 0.4% Wednesday.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their sliding on Wednesday with both pairs higher currently. AUD/USD reversed its sliding on Wednesday while USD/JPY continued its climbing with both Australian dollar and yen higher against the Greenback currently.

Stock market news

Indices	Change
Dow Jones Index	+0.04%
Hang Seng Index	+1.73%
Australian Stock Index	+0.15%

The US stock index futures are up currently with the 10-year US Treasuries yields up at 1.288%. The three main US stock indexes booked back to back gains Wednesday ranging from 0.8% to 0.9%.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after ending higher Wednesday with travel and leisure shares leading gains. European Central Bank is meeting today with the press conference scheduled for 14:30 CET where investors await to hear more clarification on adjustments to the bank’s rates guidance that should reflect a new and more flexible inflation-targeting strategy. Asian stock indexes are rising today in thin trading with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index Nikkei leading gains.

Commodity market news

Commodities	Change
Brent Crude Oil	-0.21%
WTI Crude	-0.06%

Brent is edging lower currently. Prices ended higher Wednesday despite the Energy Information Administration report US crude stockpile rose unexpectedly by 2.1 million barrels last week when a draw was expected. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures jumped 4.6% but is lower currently. September Brent crude rose 4.2% to $72.23 a barrel on Wednesday.

Gold market news

Metals	Change
Gold	-0.15%

Gold prices are extending losses today. August gold lost 0.4% to $1803.40 an ounce on Wednesday, a nearly two-week low.

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Author

Dmitry Lukashov

IFC Markets

Dimtry Lukashov is the senior analyst of IFC Markets. He started his professional career in the financial market as a trader interested in stocks and obligations.

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