Equities mixed after Dow Jones closed at record high - 29.12.2023

The Dollar strengthening has halted 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 0.3% higher on Thursday despite Department of Labor data showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week more than expected.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their climbing on Thursday. Both euro and Pound are higher against the dollar currently. USD/JPY slowed its retreating yesterday while AUD/USD reversed its advancing with the yen lower against the Greenback currently and the Australian dollar higher.

US stock indexes futures are higher currently as the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes edged down to 3.844%. The three main stock benchmarks ended mixed on Thursday in a narrow range of -0.03% to 0.14% while pending US existing home purchases held at a record low in November.

European stock indexes are up currently after closing marginally lower on Thursday led by bank shares. Asian stock indexes futures are mixed today with Australia’s All Ordinaries index leading losses.

Brent is steady currently. The international oil benchmark fell yesterday as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported US crude stockpiles fell by bigger than expected 7.1 million barrels last week. However, the bulk of the draw came from the US Gulf Coast region, where refiners are scrambling to clear inventories to avoid high taxes on storage at the end of the year, according to UBS report. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 3.2% and is flat currently. Brent futures fell 3% to $77.15 a barrel on Thursday.