Investors are now watching for a U.S. jobs report due on Friday
Wall Street stocks rose slightly overnight with energy stocks outperforming the broader market amid the ongoing rally in crude oil prices. The monthly Beige Book data accepted accelerating inflation woes, capping gains in equities. Central bank officials also said that the U.S. recovery accelerated in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the US 10-year Treasury yields retreated to 1.58% from the levels above 1.60% seen earlier in the day. The S&P 500 gained 0.14%, the Dow Jones added 0.07%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.14%. All three indexes are close to all-time highs.
Asian markets were mostly higher on Thursday after modest gains in the US. A private-sector survey showed on Thursday that China’s services sector expansion slowed in May. The Caixin/Markit services PMI fell to 55.1 in May, down from 56.3 in April. Earlier this week, the official survey showed activity in China’s services sector expanded at a faster pace in May. Against this backdrop, China’s Shanghai Composite bucked the trend to shed 00.36%. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.39%, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.72%, and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.59%.
In Europe, stocks slipped from all-time highs on Thursday, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index down 0.1% in early trade. Investors are now watching for a U.S. jobs report due on Friday that could show that the economy added more than 650,000 jobs last month.
In currencies, the dollar gave up early gains to finish mostly lower on Wednesday as risk sentiment improved while Treasury yields slipped. However, following some hesitation in Asia, the greenback resumed the ascent versus major rivals on Thursday as risk sentiment deteriorated again. As such, EURUSD is back challenging the 20-DMA that arrives at 1.2180 today and could revisit three-day lows seen on Wednesday around 1.2160 if the pressure persists in the short term.
