Stocks off ahead of U.S. jobs data, oil falls further

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Weak earnings dragged stocks lower on Thursday and oil fell on continued oversupply concerns, while Treasuries prices rose ahead of U.S. jobs numbers seen as key to determine the timing of a rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Sterling fell sharply against the U.S. dollar after just one Bank of England official voted for higher interest rates at a meeting in which the bank said a strong pound and low oil prices would keep inflation subdued.

Wall Street traded lower, weighed by a second day of sharp declines in media companies after Viacom's (O:VIAB) earnings miss was linked to viewers increasingly shifting to online streaming.

At 11:33 a.m. EDT (1533 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) fell 112.61 points, or 0.64 percent, to 17,427.86, the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 16.41 points, or 0.78 percent, to 2,083.43 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) dropped 78.97 points, or 1.54 percent, to 5,060.98. London's FTSE 100 (FTSE) equity index fell 0.1 percent, outperforming a 0.8 percent drop for the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index (FTEU3). Weak corporate results hit the shares of enzyme company Novozymes (CO:NZYMb) and Deutsche Post (DE:DPWGn).

A gauge of stocks across the globe (MIWD00000PUS) fell 0.6 percent. Emerging market stocks (MSCIEF) slipped to their lowest in over two years on nervousness about the timing and scope of a U.S. interest rate hike and continued weakness in commodity markets.

"People will go back to the U.S., put money into the U.S. coming out of emerging markets. Weakness there is specifically linked to the Fed," said Michael Testorf, co-fund manager at R Squared Capital Management in New York.

Market participants were looking ahead to U.S. jobs data on Friday that could give a strong pointer to when the Fed will raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The Fed next meets in mid-September.

U.S. Treasuries prices rose on caution ahead of the key U.S. jobs report, while reduced inflation fears also supported long-dated Treasuries prices.

U.S. 30-year Treasuries prices (US30YT=RR) were last up 29/32 in price to yield 2.898 percent compared with a yield of 2.943 percent late Wednesday. Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR were last up 11/32 in price to yield 2.230 percent, compared with a yield of 2.268 percent late Wednesday.

Sterling fell 0.6 percent to $1.5504 , having traded as high as $1.5636.

The euro was little changed versus the greenback at $1.0907 with the dollar index (DXY) on track for a second straight week of gains, lifted by a batch of economic data that, overall, has reinforced expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates next month.

Get The News You Want

Read market moving news with a personalized feed of stocks you care about.

Get The App

"Assuming the Fed is raising interest rates, differentials will be in favor of the U.S.," said Testorf.

Brent futures LCOc1 , the global oil benchmark, fell more than 1 percent to hit a low of $48.88 per barrel, its lowest since late January. U.S. crude CLc1 set a day low of $44.20, not far from the six year low of $42.05 hit in March.

"Prices are likely to consolidate or weaken further," Carsten Fritsch, an oil analyst at Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG), said. "The perception is that over-supply will be there for much longer."

London copper CMCU3 was flat after gaining as much as 0.8 percent, still near a six year low hit earlier this week.