By Marc Jones and Pete Schroeder
LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Major U.S. stock indices opened Thursday mixed following a European Central Bank rate cut, and oil prices surged over 1% over concerns Hurricane Francine could weigh on U.S. output.
In early morning trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.45%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.22%, but the Nasdaq Composite was up slightly at 0.02%.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was up 0.48%.
Earlier Thursday, the ECB announced its second rate cut of the current cycle, citing slowing inflation and economic growth. The cut was widely expected, and the central bank did not provide much clarity in terms of its future steps.
“Policymakers again pledged to follow a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach to future rate decisions, while not pre-committing to any particular policy path. Inflation developments, particularly underlying price pressures, remain the key factor in determining the timing of the next rate cut,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
The central bank’s second quarter-point rate cut of the cycle was widely expected, but how hard and fast it moves for the rest of the year still seems up in the air.
U.S. data on Wednesday meanwhile showed core consumer price index rose 0.28% in August, compared with forecasts for a rise of 0.2%. That was followed up Thursday with data showing U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in August, up 0.2% compared to economist expectations of 0.1%, although the trend still tracked with slowing inflation.
Analysts said the latest data still indicated the Federal Reserve is clear to pursue rate cuts starting with its Wednesday policy meeting.
“The inflation pipeline continues to clear, giving policy makers ample opportunity to shift focus away from inflation to other areas of the economy,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial
The dollar slid against other major currencies, as the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.21% at 101.57, with the euro up 0.25% at $1.1038.
OIL JUMPS
Oil prices were up about 1%, extending a rebound as investors wondered how much U.S. output would be hindered by Hurricane Francine’s impact on the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. crude gained 1.68% to $68.44 a barrel and Brent rose to $71.7 per barrel, up 1.49% on the day.
“Hurricane Francine has likely disrupted about 1.5 million barrels of U.S. oil production, which we estimate will reduce September production in the Gulf of Mexico by around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd),” UBS analysts said. [O/R]
In bonds, 2-year Treasury yields edged up 0.2 basis point to 3.6475%, while 10-year yields were at 3.663%.
Industrial bellwether metal copper had its biggest daily gain since July thanks to a 1.16% rally while gold surged 1.37% to $2,545 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Alison Williams and David Evans)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.