The likelihood of more help from the ECB was a factor behind Tuesday’s rallies on European stock markets. Wal-Mart Stores rose 3.5 percent after the company reported improved customer traffic and an increase in a key sales figure for the third quarter, even as a stronger dollar pressured its performance overseas.
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“The indices are treading water today… there seems to be a little bit of trepidation at the moment because of what’s been going on in Paris this morning and overnight”, said Augustin Eden, research analyst at Accendo Markets.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and France’s President Francois Hollande are to meet in Moscow next week, with investors hopeful that a thaw in relations between the West and Russian Federation might mean that sanctions are lifted. “So I’d be curious to see how their thought process around the pace of hikes has changed”.
All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.55 percent rise in the energy sector.
Target fell almost 6 percent to $68.62 as disappointing digital sales overshadowed raised full-year profit forecast.
Fairchild Semiconductor jumped 8.5 percent to $19.40 after On Semiconductor said it would buy the company for $2.4 billion.
Investors in Europe also shifted away from riskier assets after two people were killed in Paris’s Saint-Denis suburb as police descended on what they believed was the hideout of the architect of attacks in the city on 13 November. Separately, bomb threats forced two Air France flights from the USA to divert to alternate airports.
Gold was down 0.1% at $1,067.50 an ounce. The euro rose to $1.0671 from $1.0645.
Oil advanced after U.S. industry data showed crude stockpiles declined in the world’s biggest consumer. Futures climbed 1% in NY to $41.07 a barrel.
JP Morgan Chase rose 1.6 per cent, adding 7 points to the Dow.
“The FOMC minutes will be examined above all for why the reference to “international developments” was left out of the October statement, though NY Fed President Bill Dudley has already suggested that the FOMC effectively misread and panicked about developments in Chinese financial markets and their consequences for the Asian and global economic outlook”, said Marc Ostwald, global fixed income, foreign exchange and emerging markets strategist with ADM Investor Services worldwide.
“Bearing in mind that these minutes were recorded prior to the fairly stellar jobs number in October, one could expect that any perceived hawkishness will effectively be taken as a green light for a rate hike in December”, said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group, in a note. “That’s really saying that the United States is cheap”.
Spread betting quotes indicate the Dow Jones will open around 35 points higher at 17,524 and the S&P 500 will start five points to the good at 2,055.
The December contract for natural gas slipped 0.3 of a cent at US$2.368.
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The broader Topix was flat at 1,586.53 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 edged up 0.1 percent to 14,298.42. Prices dropped in 33 cities, compared with 21 in September, and were unchanged in 10.
