Yellen’s Dovish Testimony Supports Global Equities
IFC Markets | Jul 13, 2017 09:51AM ET
Dow closes at record high
US stocks ended higher on Wednesday as Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen emphasized central bank’s gradual approach to normalizing monetary policy. The dollar was little changed: 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 up 0.01% to 95.768.
The S&P 500 added 0.7% settling at 2443.25 lifted by gains in technology, real estate and materials stocks. All 11 main sectors finished higher. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at a fresh record high 21532.14 adding 0.6%, led by DuPont (NYSE:DD), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) shares. NASDAQ rose 1.1% to 6261.17 for a fourth session of gains in a row.
European stocks rebound
European stock indices ended firmly higher on Wednesday led by retailer stocks. The euro reversed previous session’s gains against the dollar while British pound gained back previous session’s loss. The Stoxx Europe 600 index jumped 1.5%. Germany’s DAX 30 rose 1.5% to 12626.58. France’s CAC 40 outperformed ending 1.6% higher and UK’s FTSE 100 index gained 1.2% to 7416.93.
Asian stocks rise on dovish Yellen comments
Asian stock indices are higher today as investors’ risk appetite was buoyed by less hawkish comments of Fed chair Yellen and upbeat Chinese exports and imports data for June.
Nikkei ended 0.01% higher at 20099.81 as the dollar slipped against the yen. Chinese stocks are higher: Shanghai Composite Index is 0.7% higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 1%. Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries is 1.1% higher despite continued rise in Australian dollar against the greenback.
Oil slips on oversupply concerns
Oil futures prices are edging lower on renewed concerns about global glut. Prices rose yesterday after the US Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies dropped 7.6 million barrels last week. Inventories fell for a second week in a row. However EIA said US crude production edged up by 59,000 barrels a day to 9.397 million barrels a day last week. September Brent crude rose 0.5% to $47.74 a barrel on Wednesday on London’s ICE Futures exchange.
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