Markets follow oil’s lead

US stocks ended lower on Monday as oil prices pulled back after last week’s rally. The dollar weakened as traders booked year-end profits. Live dollar index data indicate the ICE US Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar’s value against a basket of six major currencies, edged lower 0.02% to 97.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1% lower at 17,528.27 after falling as much as 115 points earlier, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.2%. The S&P 500 lost 0.2%, with energy shares, down 1.8%, leading the decliners. Trading volumes were light. Amazon gained 1.8% after announcement the company added 3 million new members to its Amazon Prime service in the third week of December with Prime members shopping via mobile more than doubling over a record holiday season. Walt Disney and Nike finished up 1.3% and 1% respectively, leading gainers on the Dow Industrial. Chevron and Exxon Mobil were among the Dow’s biggest decliners, closing down 1.8% and 0.7% respectively. Today at 14:30 CET November advance Goods Trade Balance will be released in US. The tentative outlook is negative. At 15:00 CET October Case-Shiller Composite home price index will be published. The tentative outlook is positive. And at 16:00 CET December Consumer Confidence Index will be released by Conference Board. The tentative outlook is positive.

European stock markets ended lower on Monday as falling oil prices dragged lower energy stocks. The euro rose against the dollar, continuing the advance started in early December after new monetary stimulus measures by the European Central Bank fell short of the market’s expectations. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.5%, Germany’s DAX was down 0.7% and France’s CAC dropped nearly 1% with trading volumes on both exchanges just about at 36% of their 90-day daily average due to a Boxing Day holiday in the United Kingdom. Shares in energy companies Repsol, Total, oil services company Technip and offshore drilling contractor Seadrill dropped between 1.7 %and 5.3 %. Investor confidence was undermined also by weak Chinese data indicating profits earned by industrial companies in November fell from a year earlier for a sixth consecutive month. No important economic data are expected today in euro-zone.

Nikkei edged 0.6% higher today in thin trade as investors avoided making big bets at year end and bought domestically-focused defensive shares with dollar largely flat against the yen.

Chinese stocks are stabilizing today with Shanghai Composite Index up 0.4% after falling more than 2% on Monday on weak economic data, the biggest loss in a month.

Oil futures prices are stabilizing today after falling sharply on Monday as fears over global oil glut and demand growth slowdown resurfaced again. WTI futures for delivery in February fell 3.4% to $36.81 a barrel, snapping a four-session win streak which led to 5.7% gain in US benchmark last week. February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 3.4% to $36.62 a barrel. Last week prices rebounded on surprise fall in US crude stocks. There is a renewed concern that persistently high output of major oil producers such as Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has indicated it is unlikely to reduce its production next year, and increased crude exports from Iran after lifting of sanctions, will weigh on oil prices.

January natural gas futures closed 9.8% higher at $2.228 per million British thermal units on Monday, for the highest finish since December 1.