European Close Market Briefing – 22/11/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

In European Equity Markets stocks fell after two days of gains on Wednesday, led by the DAX, which was hit by a bounce in the euro as well as deadlock in attempts to form a new German government. The pan-European STOXX 600 benchmark closed 0.3 percent lower, with the DAX falling 1.2 percent following strong gains in the previous session. The biggest STOXX decliner was debt-laden telecoms and cable group Altice which fell to its worst level since 2014, closing down 8.8 percent. Energy was among the biggest sectoral gainers in Europe, up 0.4 percent and led by Tullow Oil as oil prices remained near a two-year high, while consumer goods were the biggest decliners.

In Currency Markets the dollar fell on Wednesday, touching its lowest level in more than a month against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc after the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. data and inflation expectations. The dollar fell to 111.62 yen, its lowest since Sept. 26. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar fell to its lowest since Oct. 20, hitting 0.9827 franc. The euro rose to a session high against the dollar of $1.1796. The dollar also fell broadly against emerging markets currencies such as the South African rand, Chinese yuan, Brazilian real and Russian rouble. Sterling was up 0.37 percent to $1.3290. The dollar index fell by 0.52 percent to 93.39.

In Commodities Markets  oil pared gains on Wednesday, retreating slightly from a more than two-year high after U.S. crude stockpiles fell less than an industry group suggested on Tuesday. U.S. crude rose 58 cents to $57.41 a barrel after earlier hitting a session high of $58.05, the highest since July 2015. Brent crude was up 14 cents at $62.70 after earlier trading as high as $63.39. Crude inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels in the week to Nov. 17, according to weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  Spot gold was up 0.7 percent at $1,289.85 an ounce. Silver was up 1 percent at $17.11 an ounce. Platinum was 0.4 percent higher at $936.90 an ounce and palladium was up 0.1 percent at $999.40

In US Equity Markets the main indexes treaded water, staying near record levels, in late morning trading on Wednesday as technology and energy stocks battled for influence and investors awaited the minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting. The Dow was down 0.07 percent, at 23,573.74, the S&P 500 was down 0.01 percent, at 2,598.96 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.07 percent, at 6,867.41.  The S&P technology index fell 0.26 percent, led by losses in Hewlett Packard Enterprise after Meg Whitman said she would leave as chief executive in February, six years into the job. HP Enterprise fell more than 9 percent. Deere & Co rose nearly 5 percent to record high after reporting upbeat quarterly earnings and issuing a strong profit forecast for the year.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields were steady on Wednesday before the Federal Reserve is due to release minutes from its latest meeting, with trading volumes seen subdued before Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday. Benchmark 10-year notes were last up 1/32 in price to yield 2.36 percent, little changed from Tuesday. The yield curve between two-year notes and 10-year notes steepened to 60 basis points, after falling to 57.4 basis points on Tuesday, the flattest level since late 2007. Germany’s 30-year bond yield fell 3 basis points at one stage to its lowest level since early September at 1.108 percent, before settling at 1.13 percent.