Equities mixed ahead of Fed interest rate decision - 7.11.2024

The Dollar strengthening has halted currently. 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, jumped 1.7% on Wednesday.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD reversed their climbing yesterday while SP Global’s final PMI data indicated that the euro zone businesses began the final quarter of 2024 in stagnation as shrinking levels of business activity in the currency bloc’s two largest economies – Germany and France – offset expansion elsewhere. Both Pound and euro are higher against the dollar currently. USD/JPY reversed its sliding while AUD/USD reversed its climbing on Wednesday with both the yen and the Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently.

The US stock index futures are up currently ahead of unemployment claims data and Federal Reserve interest rate decision due at 16:30 CET and 23:00 CET respectively today. The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points. US stocks closed at record highs on Wednesday with the three main US stock benchmarks recording daily gains in a range from 2.5% to 3.6% after Republican Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election.

European stock indexes futures are mixed currently after closing lower on Wednesday with utility shares leading losses. Today the Bank of England is widely expected to cut the benchmark rate from its current level of 5% to 4.75% when the decision is announced at 16:00 CET. Asian stock indexes futures are mixed currently with Japan’s Nikkei leading losses after surging 2.6% in the prior session.

Brent is retracing down presently. Prices ended higher yesterday after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report US crude oil stocks climbed by above expected 2.1 million barrels to 427.7 million barrels last week. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 0.4% and is lower currently. Brent crude fell 0.8% to $74.92 a barrel on Wednesday.