Raising debt limit and funding US government buoys investor confidence - 7.9.2017

Energy stocks lead US equities higher

US stocks posted gains on Wednesday after President Trump and congressional lawmakers agreed to fund government and raise debt limit to December 15. The dollar slipped after Bank of Canada unexpectedly raised interest rate 0.25 percentage points to 1 percent : 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, inched lower less than 0.1% to 92.22. The S&P 500 advanced 0.3% settling at 2465.54 led by energy shares. Nine out of 11 main sectors ended higher. The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.3% to 21807.64. Nasdaq composite rose 0.3% to 6393.31.

European stocks rebound

European stock indices rebounded on Wednesday led by automaker shares boosted by ratings upgrades. Both the euro and British Pound extended gains against the dollar. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1% after two two session losing streak. Germany’s DAX 30 jumped 0.8% to 12214.54 helped by data indicating new car registrations in Germany rose 3.5% on year in August. France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3% while UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.3% to 7354.13.

The closely watched event today is the European Central Bank’s rate decision and press conference at 13:45 CT at 14:30 CET. With euro strengthening lately ECB president Draghi is not expected to signal it will start tapering its 60 billion euro asset purchase program scheduled to end in December.

DE 30

Asian stocks mixed

Asian stock indices are mixed today. The Nikkei ended 0.2% higher at 19396.52 despite weaker yen against the dollar. Chinese stocks are down: both Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index are 0.4% lower. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index is 0.02% higher with the Australian dollar erasing previous day’s gains against the greenback.

Oil steady ahead of inventory report

Oil futures prices are steady today. Prices climbed yesterday helped by higher demand for crude as refineries shut down by Hurricane Harvey on Gulf Coast reopened. November Brent crude rose 1.5% to $54.20 a barrel on Wednesday on London’s ICE Futures exchange. The American Petroleum Institute reported late Wednesday US crude supplies rose 2.8 million barrels for last week, but gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.5 million barrels. Today at 16:30 CET the Energy Information Administration will release US Crude Oil Inventories.