US stocks close mixed - 3.4.2019

Dollar strengthening stalls after soft data

US stock market ended mixed on Tuesday on soft data. The S&P 500 inched up 0.05 points to 2867.24. Dow Jones however fell 0.3% to 26179.13 dragged by Wallgreen’s 13% drop on earnings miss. The Nasdaq added 0.3% to 7832. The dollar strengthening stalled after data indicating durable goods orders fell 1.6% on month in February. 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, slipped 0.04% to 97.31 and is lower currently. Futures on US stock indexes point to higher openings today.

FTSE 100 outperforms European Indices

European stocks extended gains on Tuesday led by auto makers and insurance stocks. The EUR/USD was little changed while GBP/USD accelerated its climb after UK Prime Minister May said she would seek another delay to Brexit to work out an Brexit deal with opposition Labour party. Both pairs are higher currently. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4%. The German DAX 30 gained 0.5% to 11754.79, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%. UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 1.0% to 7391.12.

Shanghai Composite leads Asian indices gains

Asian stock indices are rising today after U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive’s comment “ninety percent of the deal is done, but the last 10% is the hardest part.” Nikkei rose 1% to 21713.21 with yen resuming its slide against the dollar. Chinese stocks are higher despite reports if a deal is not reached this week, talks may be extended to as late as June: the Shanghai Composite Index is up 1.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is 1.1% higher. Australia’s All Ordinaries Index added another 0.7% despite the Australian dollar turning higher against the greenback.

Brent gains

Brent futures prices advance continues today after US warning it is considering additional sanctions against Iran. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday report indicated US crude inventories rose unexpectedly by 3 million barrels last week and gasoline inventories dropped by 2.6 million. Prices ended higher yesterday. June Brent added 0.5% to $69.37 a barrel on Tuesday. Today at 16:30 CET the Energy Information Administration will release US Crude Oil Inventories.