By IFCMarkets

US stocks closed lower on Thursday in anticipation of fourth quarter earnings data in US and details on tax cuts and massive infrastructure projects proclaimed by the newly elected US president Donald Trump. The US dollar hit a 5-week low recording its worst week since November. US dollar index, a measure of a greenback’s value against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.4% to 101.38 on Thursday. Seven out of 11 major S&P 500 index sectors closed in the red with financials leading the decliners a day before the first major earnings report is to come put in the sector. The index has added 6.4% since presidential elections on November 8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.32% to close at 19,891, the S&P 500 slid 0.21% to 2,270.44 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.29% to 5,547.49. S&P 500 financials closed 0.74% lower as yields on long-term bonds fell. On the contrary, the S&P’s healthcare sector advanced 0.07% after falling 1% in the previous day’s session because of Trump’s comments. It closed higher as Merck stocks added 0/9% and Eli Lilly stocks added 2.5% after the US appeals court warned a competitor Teva Pharmaceutical Industries from selling its equivalent drug. JPMorgan Chase stocks slumped 1% ahead of earnings season weighing on the markets. More than 6.7bn shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, above the 6.5bn average in the last 20 sessions. Today at 14:30 CET a handful of neutral and positive PPI indices came out in US. At the same time, the weak retail sales data for December came out.

European stocks ended Friday on a high note after a sluggish week. Bank stocks were leading the growth in the European markets having added 1%. FTSEurofirst 300 index added 0.5%. Fiat Chrysler stocks soared 6% recouping partly the 16% fall of previous day on accusations from US Environmental Protection Agency that the company cheated with diesel emissions. German DAX 30 index added 0.5% while British FTSE 100 climbed 0.4%. EURUSD advanced 0.2% to $1.0635 which is well above its 14-week low of $1.0340 and may close the week 0.9% higher.

Asian stocks showed mixed dynamics on Friday. Japanese Nikkei ended trading day 0.8% higher although still lost 0.9% this week. USDJPY was steady at 114.95 yen on Friday. In China, December exports dropped 6.1% compared to previous year showing the record decline since the crisis in 2009. Ranking 1st among world’s trading nations, China may suffer from protectionist measures that may be imposed by newly elected US president Donald Trump. Investors shrugged off the exports data from China. Chinese blue-chip CSI300 index added 0.1% to 3,319.91 points while Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 3,112.76 points. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.1% on Friday. Hong Kong stocks rebounded on Friday with Hang Seng index 0.5% up to 22,937.38 points which is its 10-week high and Hong Kong China Enterprises index 0.7% up to 9,787.34 points. Energy sector was performing best in Hong Kong having added 2.7%.

Oil futures prices were advancing overnight as Saudi Arabia has reduced oil output to the lowest in almost two years. WTI was trading 1.5% higher at $53.05 while Brent crude futures added 1.8% to $56.07 a barrel. Later in the morning oil retreated with Brent trading 0.1% lower at $55.95 a barrel and WTI trading 0.1% lower at $52.97.

Spot gold prices were steady with $1,195.87 an ounce as investors were booking profits after gold surged overnight to its 7-week high above $1200 an ounce.

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