The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) fell 8.32 points, or 0.04 percent, to 18,565.62, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 1.75 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,183.97 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 9.27 points, or 0.18 percent, to 5,237.93. S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.25 points, or 0.01 percent, with 131,451 contracts traded. The Nasdaq composite outperformed, rising almost 0.2 percent.
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While policymakers agree that more economic data is needed before raising rates, some expect a hike will be needed soon, according to the minutes from the USA central bank’s July 26-27 policy meeting.
IG analyst Joshua Mahony said the minutes have been “taken as a sign that there may not be a rate hike in the remainder of this year” and were “considered particularly dovish in light of FOMC member William Dudley’s comments earlier this week that the market shouldn’t rule out a rate hike in September”. On Thursday, New York Fed President William Dudley said the last two months of job growth “helped allay concerns that arose earlier this year that job growth was beginning to stall”.
US equities traded mostly higher Thursday as investors digested fresh economic data as well as the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting.
Officials were generally upbeat about the USA economy but some expressed the need to keep their options open in the need of more data pointing to strength, the minutes showed.
Looking ahead, the focus will remain on central bank activity, Mr. Bhar said, with Thursday’s release of the European Central Bank’s July meeting minutes and next week’s central bankers’ conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo. USA oil closed at its best level since early July on Wednesday after weekly data showed a steeper-than-expected decline in domestic crude inventories.
The Fed left interest rates unchanged at its meeting last month but said near-term risks to the economy had diminished, leaving the door open for a possible rate hike this year.
The Fed raised its target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 0.25-0.5 percent in December, the first rate hike in almost a decade. The dollar was trading 0.15 percent higher at 100.37 yen, having hit a seven-week low of 99.55 yen on Tuesday. United Kingdom retail sales data due at 0830 GMT is expected to show a 0.2 percent rise in July after a sharp fall in June.
The dollar extended its recovery against a basket of currencies on Wednesday after bouncing back from 7-week lows against the yen and euro on the back of hawkish comments from a pair of Federal Reserve officials in the previous session. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was up 0.25 per cent at $4,786 a ton after losing 0.8 percent on Wednesday.
But with the dovish language in the minutes, the USA dollar began to fall and Wall Street shook off the bearish sentiment as the Dow and the S&P 500 indexes climbed to positive territory.
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There are still a few key indicators in the economy, however, that could force the Fed from raising rates.
