By IFCMarkets

US stocks were looking down on Thursday in choppy trading session after the next handful of earnings data came out. US dollar index, a measure of a greenback’s value against a basket of six major currencies, added 0.1% to 98.369, up 0.4% for a week. US currency strengthened on hawkish comments of New York Fed President William Dudley on Wednesday and better-than-expected US existing home sales report and ECB decision not to taper QE program on Thursday. Stronger US dollar weighed on oil prices which pushed down energy sector and, thus, stock indices. S&P 500 index fell 0.11% to 2,141.9. Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.09% to 18,185.74, Nasdaq index lost 0.15% to 5,238.79. Telecoms sector slumped 1.9% on weak earnings data from Verizon giant. Verizon added fewer new wireless subscribers in Q3 than previously anticipated and showed lower revenue which pushed its stocks 2.7% lower. On the other hand, stocks of credit card issuer AmEx sky-rocketed 10.3% on its strong quarterly results. Nevertheless, the financials closed 0.02% lower. Healthcare sector was on the rise with Dahaner stocks climbing 4.5% on strong quarterly earnings. After the bell Microsoft stocks surged 5.9% on its strong quarterly results. No significant economic data will come out today in US except for Baker Hughes US rig count at 19:00 CEST.

European stocks were almost flat on Friday. EURUSD fell 0.4% to $1.0890 having earlier hit a fresh 7-month low of $1.0875. ECB meeting took place on Thursday where the Bank left its monetary policy unchanged. ECB President Mario Draghi said policy makers did not discuss tapering of 1.7trn euro bond-buying program before March 2017 but left room open for additional monetary stimulus on the meeting on December 8. STOXX EUROPE 600 was flat. UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.06%, French CAC 40 fell 0.37%, German DAX 30 dipped 0.16%.

Asian stocks mostly fell on Friday as US dollar index rose to its 7-month high which dragged oil down and made investors more risk-averse. Japanese Nikkei index fell 0.3% to 17,184.59 after 5 days of growth. It ended the week 1.9% higher. Broader TOPIX index fell 0.4% to 1,365.29. USDJPY was little changed at 103.900 yen after 0.5% rise overnight. MSCI broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4%. South-Korean Kospi index fell 0.5% while Australian All Ordinaries index lost 0.2% following the decline in energy sector.

Oil futures prices were on the rise on Friday as Russia expressed its commitment to join the output freeze deal to put an end to 2-year slide in prices but stronger US dollar limited the gains of oil. Brent crude futures added 44 cents to $51.82 a barrel while WTI oil futures added 32 cents to $50.95 a barrel. Energy Minister of Russia Alexander Novak said on Friday he will discuss the matter with his counterpart from Saudi Arabia. The OPEC meeting is due on November 30.

Gold dipped on Friday as US dollar advanced but remains on track to end the week higher. Spot gold lost 0.2% to $1,263.86 an ounce today while advanced 1% this week. US gold futures slipped 0.2% to $1,265. Demand for physical gold accelerates in Asia and India in particular which supports gold prices. Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust climbed 0.31% to 970.18 tonnes on Thursday and 2.3% so far this month.

Market Analysis provided by IFCMarkets

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