European Close Market Briefing – 16/11/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

In European Equity Markets stocks enjoyed a recovery on Thursday, snapping their longest losing streak since October 2016 as the cyclical sectors which had driven a market-wide sell-off made a comeback. The pan-European STOXX 600 index climbed 0.4 percent, with the cyclicals-heavy DAX up 0.5 percent while Britain’s FTSE 100 and Italy’s top stock index lagged, trading flat. French telecoms firm Bouygues led gains, up 4.2 percent after raising its profitability goal for the year, buoyed by a robust 37 percent jump in nine-month operating profits. Troubled British engineer GKN lost 7.9 percent, the top faller after it announced a further write-off.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar steadied against a basket of major currencies on Thursday after rebounding from a more than three-week low in the previous session as risk appetite improved, though concerns over the passage of a U.S. tax revamp kept gains in check. The euro was 0.12 percent lower at $1.1777. Sterling was up 0.24 percent against the dollar to $1.32, after marginally better-than-expected retail sales data, even as investors kept an eye on uncertainty around Brexit negotiations. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar was almost unchanged at 112.89. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was little changed at 93.824.

In Commodities Markets oil prices edged lower on Thursday as rising U.S. production and inventories threatened to undermine a rally sparked by tightening world supply as a consequence of OPEC’s curbs on output. Brent crude futures were down 14 cents a barrel at $61.75. U.S. light crude fell 6 cents to $55.27 a barrel. The U.S. EIA on Wednesday showed domestic crude inventories rising for a second week in a row, building by 1.9 million barrels in the week to Nov. 10 to 459 million barrels. Spot gold was flat at $1,2758 an ounce. In other precious metals, palladium broke a five-session losing streak, rising 0.1 percent to $985.10 an ounce. Silver gained 0.4 percent to $17 and platinum was flat at $932.

In US Equity Markets  the S&P 500 index recovered from its worst two-day fall since August on Thursday after Wal-Mart and Cisco shares rose on strong results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.77 percent, at 23,449.7, the S&P 500 was up 0.76 percent, at 2,584.2 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.17 percent, at 6,784.75. Wal-Mart rose  8.74 percent to hit a record high of $97.90 after reporting quarterly sales that beat expectations on hurricane-related purchases and rising online sales. Cisco was up shares rose 6.44 percent as strength in security business helped its earnings. Best Buy fell 6.88 percent as quarterly same-store sales came in below estimates, hurt by a late launch of iPhone X

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury two-year yields hit a nine-year high on Thursday as risk appetite recovered globally and a batch of neutral to solid economic reports put the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates in 2018. In late morning trading, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.350 percent, from 2.335 percent late on Wednesday. U.S. two-year yields climbed to a nine-year peak of 1.716 percent, from 1.691 percent on Wednesday. U.S. 30-year bond yields rose to 2.791 percent, from Wednesday’s 2.781 percent.