(DIS) led blue-chip losers.
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US gold futures were up $1 at $1,317.50.
“Private payroll data out of the US will help to give the market some direction”, MKS said in a note. Ogg said stocks trading at a P/E of 17 does raise some questions about lofty valuations for S&P 500 traded equities.
Analysts said attention will now be focused on key United States jobs data, due to be released Friday, which, if strong, could help clinch the case for an early rate hike. She says companies don’t need to show double-digit growth in quarterly results because gross domestic product, tracking 1.2% for the year, lowers the collective bar.
Still, in the 12 months through July the core personal consumption expenditure, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, increased 1.6 per cent, below its 2 per cent target. Financial stocks stand to gain the most in a higher interest rate environment. It supports stocks and bonds, and keeps dollar soft.
Comments from the Fed’s top dogs on Friday pushed the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/worries-about-yellens-jackson-hole-speech-stop-dow-futures-in-their-tracks-2016-08-26), though the Nasdaq finished higher.
A weaker yen boosted Japan’s exporters, sending the Nikkei stock index 2.3 percent higher at the close.
“With (Other OTC: WWTH – news) a significant economic calendar in store for the next few days for the USA economy, there is a window of opportunity for markets to shift their expectations from a hawkish hold to perhaps an outright rate hike”, he said in a note.
The CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed the market pricing in more than a 30 percent chance of a hike in September, up from 18 percent before Yellen and her deputy Stanley Fischer spoke. “I know I am not the brightest pin in the box, but I am all over the place with Fed talk”, said David Buik, market commentator at Panmure Gordon & Co, in a note to clients.
Embattled drugmaker Mylan fell 0.7 percent after it answered critics of its alleged profiteering on its anti-allergy EpiPen injector by saying it would release a generic version at half of the current $600 price tag.
Other markets: Gold prices drifted south on Monday, picking up from last week’s losses, as the dollar gained.
The dollar hovered near a three-week high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday.
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Oil prices fell, with benchmark Brent crude falling below $49 a barrel, pressured by high output from Middle East OPEC members and as a stronger USA dollar weighed on commodities.
