Equities rise after Wall Street rebounded - 22.8.2024

The Dollar is steady 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, slid 0.2% on Wednesday.

EUR/USD slowed its advancing while GBP/USD accelerated its climbing yesterday as the Office for National Statistics reported the UK budget deficit narrowed less than expected in July. Both Pound and euro are higher against the dollar currently. Both USD/JPY and AUD/USD ended little changed on Wednesday with the yen lower against the Greenback currently and the Australian dollar higher.

The US stock index futures are up currently ahead of unemployment claims and Purchasing Managers' Indexes reports due at 16:30 CET and 17:45 CET today respectively. US stocks closed higher again on Wednesday with the three main US stock benchmarks recording daily gains in a range from 0.1% to 0.6% while Labor Department data showed a severe downward revision in US payrolls data in the year to March 2024.

European stock indexes futures are higher currently after closing up on Wednesday led by automobile shares. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly rising today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index leading gains while Japanese Purchasing Managers' Indexes data showed the services sector posted strong growth for a second consecutive month.

Brent is edging down presently. Prices ended $1 lower yesterday despite the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report US crude oil stocks fel by above-expected 4.6 million barrels last week. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 1.69% and are lower currently. Brent crude lost 1.49% to $76.05 a barrel on Wednesday.