Stocks waver ahead of US inflation data - 30.6.2023

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, rose 0.4% Thursday while the Department of Labor data showed the number of Americans who sought unemployment benefits over the last week was lower than the forecast while their number declined.

Both GBP/USD and EUR/USD continued their retreating on Thursday as data from the German statistics office Destatis showed German inflation increased in June. Both euro and Pound are higher against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY continued its climbing while AUD/USD reversed its sliding yesterday with both the yen and the Australian dollar higher against the Greenback currently as data showed that inflation in Tokyo rose slightly less than expected in June, but remained well above the Bank of Japan’s target range.

US stock indexes futures are mixed currently ahead PCE Price Index report at 14:30 CET today as the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes ticked down to 3.845%. The three main stock benchmarks ended mixed on Thursday in the range of -0.02% to 0.87% led by banking shares.

European stock indexes are up currently after closing marginally higher on Thursday with retail shares leading gains. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly higher today with Japan’s Nikkei leading gains despite data showing that China’s manufacturing sector slowed for a third straight month in June, while growth in non-manufacturing activity eased more than expected.

Brent is extending gains currently. Prices ended higher yesterday following the jump on Wednesday after US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report showing bigger draw than expected in US crude inventories. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 0.4% and is higher currently. Brent crude rose 0.4% to $74.34 a barrel on Thursday.