Dollar poised for further gains as traders brace for December hike

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The U.S. dollar held on to its gains from the prior session on Thursday as investors embraced the notion that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates at its December meeting.

The euro traded at $1.0878, just above a three-month low reached Wednesday. It was little-changed from its level late Wednesday in New York. The dollar traded at ¥121.7390, up 0.2% from ¥121.51 late Wednesday.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, was at 97.9580, little-changed from its late-Wednesday level.

The pound traded at $1.5231, down 1% from $1.5385 late Wednesday in New York.

Source: MarketWatch

Crude Futures Fall for Second Day on U.S. Supplies, Dollar

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Crude fell for a second day as U.S. production remains stubbornly high.

Prices dropped as much as 1.7 percent. U.S. supplies rose for a sixth week, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Prices also came under pressure as the dollar strengthened after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said a U.S. interest-rate increase remains a possibility for 2015. The stronger U.S. currency reduces the appeal of commodities as a store of value.

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery fell 59 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $45.73 a barrel at 1:37 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.58 to $46.32 on Wednesday, the biggest decline since Oct. 12. The volume of all futures traded was 4 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent for December settlement declined 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $48.43 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.70 to WTI. The gap between the two crudes widened for the first time this week.

Source: Bloomberg

S&P 500 Closes Little Changed as Investors Weigh Rates, Economy

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U.S. stocks closed little changed near a three-month high as the specter of an interest rate increase this year left investors looking to Friday’s jobs report for fresh signs the economy is strong enough to withstand tightening.

Equities swung between gains and losses in the session as a rally in banks helped erase declines sparked by a renewed selloff in embattled drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Weakness in commodity producers also held back stocks for a second day.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.1 percent to 2,100.13 at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 0.6 percent.

A rally in equities stalled after reaching a three-month high on Tuesday, after the S&P 500 gained as much as 13 percent from an August low, carry the benchmark to within 1 percent of its record. Gains in the past two months had been paced by a rebound in commodity shares, after they led declines during a summer selloff sparked by worries that weakness in China’s economy would spread.

Source: Bloomberg

Europe Stocks Snap Three-Day Rally, Following U.S. Shares Lower

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European stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by declines in commodity and energy producers.

Anglo American Plc and ArcelorMittal slid 4.6 percent or more, dragging miners to the worst performance among industry groups in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Energy stocks halted a three-day advance, with Amec Foster Wheeler Plc slumping 23 percent after saying it will halve dividends amid falling oil prices. Societe Generale SA and Adidas AG gained at least 4 percent.

The Stoxx 600 lost 0.4 percent at the close of trading, tracking a drop in U.S. shares. Europe’s equity gauge pared gains yesterday after the Federal Reserve signaled a December rate increase was possible.

The Stoxx 600 climbed 12 percent from a Sept. 29 low through yesterday, recouping about two-thirds of the losses from a summer rout. Its relative strength index is nearing 70, a level that technical analysts call overbought, meaning gains have gone too far.

The gauge earlier today erased a drop to rise as much as 0.4 percent as European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the euro should continue to support an economic upswing in the region, and projected a “soft landing” for China.

In the U.K., the FTSE 100 Index fell 0.8 percent. It had erased a drop after the Bank of England indicated it remains cautious about raising rates and trimmed its growth and inflation forecasts for 2015 and 2016.

Among other stocks active on corporate news, Vestas Wind Systems A/S climbed 5.2 percent after saying it will buy back as much as 150 million euros ($163 million) of its shares.

Credit Agricole SA dropped 8.3 percent after its net income fell at its corporate and investment bank. Adecco SA slid 11 percent after the world’s largest provider of temporary staffing trimmed profit margins.

Source : Bloomberg

U.S. Stocks Trim Decline as Banks Gain, Valeant Off Earlier Lows

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U.S. stocks pared a decline as banks gained amid increased bets for higher interest rates, while Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. trimmed a drop that weighed on health-care companies.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.1 percent to 2,100.20 at 11:56 a.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 0.6 percent.

Equities trimmed a weekly advance, after reaching a three-month high on Tuesday, stalling a rally that boosted the S&P 500 by as much as 13 percent from an August low and carried the benchmark to within 1 percent of its record. Gains in the past two months had been paced by a rebound in commodity shares, after they led declines during a summer selloff sparked by worries that weakness in China’s economy would spread.

More than 20 members of the S&P 500 are scheduled to release results today, including Walt Disney Co. and Kraft Heinz Co. With more than 80 percent of the index’s companies having reported, about 74 percent have beaten earnings estimates, while only 45 percent have topped sales forecasts. Analysts estimate profits dropped 3.9 percent in the third quarter, up from predictions for a 6.1 percent decline a week ago.

Source: Bloomberg