By IFCMarkets
US stocks closed almost flat on Thursday ahead of key labour market data which may determine the timing of US rate hike. US dollar strengthened with US dollar index, a measure of a greenback’s value against a basket of six major currencies, rising 0.5% to its 2-month high which weighed on gold. US dollar rose as positive labour market data support the case of the rate hike in US. Today at 14:30 CEST the nonfarm payrolls will come out, Reuters economists expect them to increase by 175 thousand. The chances of December rate hike are currently 64%, according to CME FedWatch tool. Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.07% to 18,268.57,Nasdaq fell 0.14% to 5,308.48 while S&P 500 index edged up 0.1% to 2,161.85. Twitter stocks slumped 20.1% to $19.87 on fears its highly-anticipated auction will get little attention from potential buyers. Wal-Mart stocks fell 3.2% to $69.36 on news about its flat earnings forecast for next year. As to economic data, today at 14:30 CEST the payrolls data, average hourly earnings, change in household employment for September and many other data. At 16:00 CEST the wholesale inventories data will come out. At 19:00 CEST the Baker Hughes US rig count will be known.
European stocks were mixed today with British stocks up on weaker pound and continental stocks mostly down. EURUSD rate fell 0.3% to $1.1120 having lost 1% this week. STOXX EUROPE 600 lost 0.5% as well as Germany’s DAX30 and France’s CAC40. Today early in the morning the British pound slumped 6% in a few minutes to $1.1378 on some trading platforms while other recorded the low of $1.1841. It has pared most of its losses then but remained below the Thursday evening level of $1.2615 in New York. For a week British pound lost 4% which pushed up FTSE100 as weak pound makes overseas profits of British exporters higher. Now the pound it under pressure as British Prime Minister Teresa May said the Brexit procedure shall begin no later than in March 2017 which weighed on investors sentiment. As to economic data, German industrial production for August came out positive this morning. In Great Britain, industrial and manufacturing production data came out negative this morning while trade deficit rose.
Asian stocks were on decline today on Friday. Nikkei lost 0.2% to 16,867.35 after four days of gains. The index is on track to close this week 2.5% higher as yen sharply weakened against the dollar. USDJPY is traded around 103.600 on Friday after rising above 104 a day before. Hong Kong stocks were looking down on Friday with Hang Seng index down 0.5% to 23,836.56 as investors were booking profits ahead of long weekend and on data the foreign exchange reserves dropped for 3rd straight month. Chinese stock market was closed this week for the National Day holiday. Hong Kong and Tokyo financial markets will be shut on Monday for a holiday also.
Oil futures prices steadied after WTI surpassed the level of $50 a barrel overnight on lower US crude inventories. WTI futures were traded at $50.53 while Brent futures rose 0.4% to $52.70 a barrel.
Gold dipped to 3-1/2-month low of $1,252 an ounce, 5% down this week.
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Silver plunged more thanb 10% this week to a 4-month low of $17.125 an ounce.
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