Markets subdued after Wall Street extended losses - 20.10.2023

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, slid 0.3% on Thursday while the Department of Labor data showed the number of Americans who sought unemployment benefits over the last week was lower than the forecast while their number declined.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their sliding on Thursday. Both euro and Pound are lower against the dollar currently. USD/JPY joined AUD/USD’s slowed sliding yesterday with both the yen and the Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

US stock indexes futures are down currently as the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes edged down to 4.948%. The three main stock benchmarks ended lower on Thursday in the narrow range of -0.95% to -0.75% after Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s comment that US inflation is “still too high” despite a recent slowdown.

European stock indexes are lower currently after closing down on Thursday led by auto stocks while the London Stock Exchange limited trading to the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and IOB securities just over 30 minutes before the end of the session as it said it was investigating an “incident.” Asian stock indexes futures are mostly down today with Australia’s All Ordinaries index leading losses as Chinese stocks were dragged down by property shares weighed by uncertainty amid reports Country Garden Holdings was now seeking more talks with bondholders after missing a key payment on its international bonds this week.

Brent is steady currently. Prices rose for a third day in a row yesterday. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 1.5% and is little changed currently. Brent futures added 1.0% to $92.38 a barrel on Thursday.