Stocks mixed after Fed leaves rates unchanged despite lower inflation - 13.6.2024

The Dollar weakening has stalled currently. 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, shed 0.56% on Wednesday after inflation for May came in at 3.3%, down 0.1 percentage point from April, slightly below expectations.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s accelerated advancing yesterday while data showed that UK’s economic growth was flat in April as construction output declined for the third month in a row. Both euro and Pound are lower against the dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its advancing while AUD/USD reversed its sliding on Wednesday with both the yen and the Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

The US stock index futures are mixed currently ahead of US Unemployment Claims report due at 14:30 CET today. The three main US stock indexes ended mixed on Wednesday as Nasdaq and SP 500 rallied to new records with three main stock benchmarks recording daily returns in a range from -0.1% to 1.54% as Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged while signaling just one rate cut this year, down from the three expected in March.

European stock indexes futures are down currently after closing higher on Wednesday led by technology stocks. Asian stock indexes futures are mixed today with Japan’s Nikkei leading losses amid reports the Bank of Japan is likely to debate a reduction in monthly bond purchases at its policy gathering ending Friday.

Brent is steady presently. Prices ended higher yesterday despite the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report US crude oil stocks rose unexpectedly by 3.7 million barrels in the week to June 7 when a draw of 1.2M barrels was forecast. Gasoline inventories also rose by 2.6 million barrels versus expectations for a draw with the onset of the travel-heavy summer season. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 0.7% and is little changed currently. Brent crude added 0.8% to $82.60 a barrel on Wednesday.