Stocks mixed following upbeat US session - 23.1.2025

The Dollar strengthening continues 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, added 0.3% on Wednesday.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD reversed their climbing yesterday as the Office for National Statistics reported UK borrowed £17.8 billion in December last year, £10.1 billion more than in December 2023. Both Pound and euro are lower against the dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its sliding while AUD/USD ended virtually unchanged on Wednesday with both the yen and the Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

The US stock index futures are down currently ahead of unemployment benefits report at 14:30 CET and president Trump’s speech at 17:00 CET via satellite at the World Economic Forum today. US stocks ended mostly higher on Wednesday with the three main US stock benchmarks recording daily gains in a range from 0% to 1.28% led by technology shares.

European stock indexes are higher currently after closing up on Wednesday led by household goods and industrials shares. Asian stock indexes futures are mixed currently with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index leading losses while China announced plans to channel hundreds of billions of yuan of investment from state-owned insurers into stock market.

Brent is edging down presently. Prices extended losses on Wednesday amid reports Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports in November jumped to their highest in eight months. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 0.5% and are lower currently. Brent crude slid 0.4% to $79.00 a barrel on Wednesday.