Equities mixed after SP 500 ended near record - 3.1.2022

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, ended 0.1% higher on Friday.

GBP/USD joined EUR/USD’s continuing sliding Friday. Both euro and Pound are higher against the Dollar currently. AUD/USD joined USD/JPY’s continuing climbing Friday with both the Australian dollar and yen lower against the Greenback currently.

Futures on US equity benchmarks are up currently with 10-year US treasury yields down at 1.481%. US stocks slipped in light trading the last trading day of 2021 on Friday. While the three main US stock benchmarks recorded daily losses ranging from 0.2% to 0.6%, they all posted monthly, quarterly and annual gains. The SP 500 gained 27% since the last trading day of 2020, Nasdaq rose 21.4% and Dow added 18.73%.

European stock indexes are mixed currently after ending down on Friday while markets in Germany, Italy and Switzerland were closed. Asian indexes are mostly in red today in thin trading with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index leading losses with Chinese, Australian, and Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China Evergrande Group’s Hong Kong shares were suspended from trading earlier in the day.

Brent is retreating currently. Prices retreated Friday, posting annual gains however. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 2.3% and is lower currently. Brent crude fell 2.2% to $77.78 a barrel on Friday, posting however 50.5% annual gain.