Oil fluctuated as investor attention turned from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s somewhat dovish message to the gathering of major crude producers in Vienna. The euro edged higher while European stocks struggled for direction on what is a holiday in several countries.
West Texas crude swung between gains and losses as OPEC and its allies appeared poised to extend their deal to reduce output, but Saudi Arabia signaled Thursday’s meeting won’t produce a deeper cut. Meanwhile, the dollar fell after the Fedminutes cast some doubt over the trajectory of interest rate increases even as it confirmed the likelihood of a June hike.
Click here to follow the TOPLive blog on the OPEC meeting in Vienna.
The Fed language was enough to spur some risk appetite, as policy makers indicated they wanted more evidence that recent weakness in economic growth is transitory before removing monetary stimulus further. That helped U.S. and global stocks to post yet more record highs. But the equity bullishness failed to transfer to Europe, where some stock exchanges are closed today for the Ascension holiday.
Read our Markets Live blog here.
Here are key upcoming events:
- Britain’s political leaders will resume national campaigning on Friday for the June 8 election.
- South Africa releases its monetary policy decision later Thursday.
And here are the main movers:
Commodities
- Crude was trading 0.3 percent lower at $51.20 a barrel as of 10:23 a.m. in London, after touching the highest level in more than a month.
- Gold slipped less than 0.1 percent to $1,258.29 an ounce.
Stocks
- The Stoxx Europe 600 erased a decline to trade little changed.
- Futures on the S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent. The underlying gauge rose 0.3 percent Wednesday.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after falling 0.3 percent on Wednesday.
- The euro gained 0.1 percent to $1.1228. The British pound was little changed.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell less than 0.1 percent to 2.25 percent after losing three basis points to 2.25 percent on Wednesday.
- French 10-year yields fell three basis points while those in Germany dropped four basis points.
May 25, 2017, 7:24 PM GMT+10
Source: Bloomberg