Equities rise after Wall Street selloff - 17.4.2025

The Dollar weakening has reversed today. 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 0.9% lower on Wednesday.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s slowed advancing yesterday as the Office for National Statistics reported UK inflation slowed to cooler than expected 2.6% in March. Both Pound and euro are lower against the dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its advancing while AUD/USD accelerated its climbing on Wednesday with both the yen and the Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

The US stock index futures are advancing currently ahead of unemployment benefits report at 14:30 CET. US stocks sold off on Wednesday with the three main US stock benchmarks recording daily losses in the range from -3.07% to -1.7% after the Federal Reserve chair Powell said “tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation” that would likely “move us away from our goals” - referring to the dual mandate of the central bank to ensure both stable prices and maximum sustainable employment over time.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after closing mixed yesterday with the chip makers stocks leading losses after Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML reported lower than expected first-quarter net bookings. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly rising currently with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index leading gains while Chinese stocks continued advancing despite White House announcement yesterday that tariffs on Chinese goods would be going up to 245% from the previous level of 145%.

Brent is extending gains presently. Prices rebounded nearly 2% Wednesday despite the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report US crude oil stock increased by below expected 515 thousand barrels to 442.9 million barrels last week. Prices were buoyed by reports the US issued new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports, including against a China-based "teapot refinery." The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 1.9% and are higher currently. Brent crude gained 1.8% to $65.85 a barrel on Wednesday.