- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ |
Fed minutes extend rally in US stocks as dollar retreats
Wall Street stocks rose again Wednesday following Federal Reserve minutes signaling a moderation in its aggressive policy to counter inflation, while oil prices slumped amid worries over demand.
US stocks followed up Tuesday's rally to close higher again after a majority of Fed policymakers found that a slower pace of interest rate hikes would "likely soon be appropriate," according to minutes of their meeting this month.
Analysts at Oxford Economics said the minutes "strengthen our conviction in our forecast for a 50-basis point rate hike at the December meeting" after the central bank previously engineered four straight 75-basis point hikes.
The minutes helped US stocks recover from an earlier swoon, while the dollar retreated.
All three major equity indices finished higher, with the S&P 500 adding 0.6 percent.
US markets will be closed on Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and will end trading at midday on Friday.
Earlier, reports showed surprisingly strong orders of big-ticket US manufactured goods in October, while new home sales defied expectations and rose during the same month.
Weekly jobless claims ticked higher, while a University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment topped expectations.
Elsewhere, Paris and London also closed in positive territory, while Frankfurt ended flat.
The eurozone's composite purchasing managers index (PMI), a key economic indicator, improved from 47.3 in October to 47.8 in November, S&P Global said.
But activity languished under 50 -- signifying the fifth consecutive month of economic contraction as inflation spikes, and dampening the outlook for the fourth quarter.
Oil prices slid on fears of more painful Covid lockdowns in China that could ravage the Asian giant's energy demand.
The main American oil contract, the West Texas Intermediate, briefly sank by more than five percent on Wednesday, eventually closing more than three percent down.
"With China also grappling with record numbers of Covid cases the macro-outlook has continued to deteriorate for oil this week, with prices on course to decline for the third week in a row," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Market UK.
Analysts said oil prices had not been significantly affected by efforts of G7 countries to set a price cap on Russian oil.
The group is looking at a range of between $65 and $70 a barrel, which is already the range the commodity trades at; that means the measure is unlikely to remove oil supply from the market, analysts said.
- Key figures around 2130 GMT -
New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 34,194.06 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 4,027.26 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 11,285.32 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,465.24 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 6,679.09 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: FLAT at 14,427.59 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,946.44 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.6 percent at 17,523.81 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,096.91 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0401 from $1.0304 on Tuesday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 139.52 yen from 141.23 yen
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2064 from $1.1886
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.18 pence from 86.69 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.6 percent at $77.94 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 3.3 percent at $85.41 per barrel
X.Wong--CPN