Stock exchanges in Europe trailed Asian stocks by opening also lower on Wednesday, as at the session opening UK's FTSE 100 dropped 0.5% to 6,140.13 points and German DAX 30 index fell 0.8% to 9,811.80 points. In the meantime, French CAC 40 lost 0.6% to 4,272.74 points and pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 shrunk by 0.7% to 2,917.54 points.
Crude oil futures on Wednesday were stagnant and stayed just below multi-month highs reached on Tuesday after an API report was published, that US oil stockpiles have decreased during last week. WTI futures surged 0.4% to $ 48.49 per barrel and Brent added 0.2% to 49.38 per barrel. Energy Information Administration of the US was set to release official stockpile
Low performance in the US exchanges on Tuesday, due to speculations about future monetary policy, affected start of trading in Asian markets on Wednesday. Hang Seng index fell 1.1% to 19,889.55 points, Shanghai Composite dropped 1.1% to 2,811.75 points and Korean Kospi slipped 0.8% to 1,952.00 points. In the meantime Japanese Nikkei 225 index increased 0.6% to 16,748.36 points.
On Tuesday, Europe's stock markets finished mostly lower. Germany's DAX 30 Index dropped 0.7%, finishing at 9,880.50, whereas the United Kingdom's FTSE 100 Index grew 0.1%, closing at 6,160.00 points. In the meantime, France's CAC 40 Index declined 0.4%, ending at 4,294.30, and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 Index gave up almost 0.6%, closing Tuesday's trading session at 2,934.50 points.
The major US stock markets opened Tuesday's trading session in red, following yesterday's successful closing. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index lost 0.14%, opening at 2,063.73 points, whereas the Dow Jones Index dropped 0.09%, starting at 17,694.41, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.12% to 4,769.73 points.
In the United States, housing starts grew 6.6% to a 1.17 million-unit pace on a seasonally adjusted basis in April, according to the Department of Commerce. In the meantime, March's housing starts were revised up from the originally reported 1.09 million pace to 1.10 million-unit pace. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the 1.13 million-unit pace in April.
The US Department of Commerce reported that consumer prices jumped 0.4% month-over-month in April, surpassing the 0.3% forecast and following the 0.1% increase seen in March. That was the biggest gain since February 2013. Meanwhile, on an annual basis, the CPI increased 1.1%, in line with market expectations and following March's 0.9% rise.
European stocks opened strong as the positive sentiment spilled over from global bourses. The DAX 30 index gained 0.5% and showed 10 005.89 points, whilst the FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to trade at 6 177.03 points, awaiting news on the UK inflation data in April. The consumer price index is anticipated to grow 0.3% on a monthly basis in April,
The Producer Price Index climbed 0.3% and surprised analysts who had forecast a 0.1% gain. The occurrence is chiefly surprising because the Consumer Price Index failed to escape the red zone a few days before. The year-on-year PPI, however showed -2.7%, which is still a significant improvement from the -4.7% level the month before.
The UK inflation rate release on Tuesday is anticipated to show a steady 0.5% year-on-year advance for April, continuously showing the highest level in 15 months. The forecast is disappointingly lower than the government target which is set at an annual 2%. Core inflation, however, is likely to drop to the 1.4% mark, as opposed to 1.5% in March.
The UK CPI fell short of analyst expectations as the data release showed a 0.1% monthly decrease in the measure for April, missing the predicted 0.3%, with air fares, clothing and vehicles being the main drivers for the price decrease. Data on the year-on-year inflation level showed further disappointment with 0.3%, in comparison to an expected 0.5%, while core inflation
Increase in oil prices lifted trading mood not only in US, but also in Asia, as energy and resource stocks became top performers. Japanese Nikkei 225 index surged 1.1% to 16,652.80 points and Topix climbed 1.1% and closed at 1,335.85 points. Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 2,855.21 points, while Shenzhen Composite added 0.5% to 1,823.65 points.
Crude futures hovered around their November 2015 top levels because of global supply disruptions. Prices continued to rise on Tuesday after surging more than 3% on Monday and the commodity raced to its six-month high. WTI futures added 1.2% to trade at $48.28 per barrel and Brent rose 0.8% to trade at $49.33 by 06:30 GMT.
Reserve Bank of Australia released its detailed record of previous meetings or minutes, which indicated hard deliberation by RBA officials before cutting rates and minimised the probability that rates will be cut again. It boosted the Aussie which surged 0.8% against the US Dollar and traded at 0.7346 by 06:00 GMT on Tuesday.
The Russian Federation's GDP dropped 1.2% year-over-year in the first three months of 2016, the Federal Service for State Statistics said on Monday, whereas market analysts expected the country's GDP to decrease 2.0% in the Q1, following a 3.8% fall seen in the same period last year.
The largest US stock markets opened Monday's trading session flat, despite the unexpected drop in the New York Empire State Index reported earlier. At the open of the North American trading session, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.04% to 2,047.53 points, whereas the Dow Jones Index grew 0.05% to 17,543.81, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.19% to 4,726.76 points.
Crude oil futures traded higher on Monday, triggered by possible production cuts in Venezuela and Nigeria. Thus, both West Texas Intermediate and Brent futures jumped 2.5%, trading at $47.37 and $49.01 per barrel respectively by 13:20 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
New York's Federal Reserve published its business conditions index of New York state for May and it plunged to negative 9 points from positive 9.56 points in April. This was an unexpected turn of events, as analysts predicted it to be 6.5 points. Not only May's results erased increases of March and April, but also it is the biggest fall
Goldman issued a statement announcing that crude oil market went from nearing storage limits to a deficit situation much earlier than they expected and low oil prices are over. Main reasons for it were supply distruptions of around 3.75 million barrels per day. WTI traded up 2.3% at $47.30 and Brent was up 2.4% at $49.00 by 13:00 GMT.
The Kiwi surged 0.6% on Monday, hovering around the $0.68 mark, despite the slowdown in Chinese industrial production and retail sales. Volatility for the New Zealand Dollar can be expected on Wednesday, when the quarterly PPI data will be released. The Kiwi shows strong resistance $0.6820 and support at $0.6750.
According to the latest ComRes poll, the proportion of people who would like the UK to remain inside the European Union grew to 33% prior to the Brexit referendum on June 23. In the meantime, the number of people who would vote to leave the EU jumped 2% to 29%, whereas 38% of respondents remained undecided.
The Loonie traded higher against the Dollar as oil prices went up on Monday, while volatility remained low resulting from an empty economic calendar. The WTI traded 2% higher above the $47 level and Brent showed $49, a 2% raise as well. The Canadian Dollar traded at $0.7737 at 10:15 AM GMT against the Euro with support at $0.7776 and
On Wall Street, New York, mood before Monday's market opening was calm, because most economic calendars were almost empty and witout any major macroeconomic data realeases for Monday, as most important events were set for the rest of the week. Standard & Poor's 500 index remained unchanged pre-market at 2,043.50 points.
Norway's $870 billion oil fund and fourth largest stockholder of Volswagen shares, announced start of legal actions against VW in Germany's court. Main reason is to "safeguard fund's holding", because the diesel emissions scandal in US and subsequential stock value fall. In upcoming weeks a lawsuit will be started by fund's officials.