The European Central Bank (ECB) has left rates unchanged once again at today’s meeting of the general council. Data showing that China’s imports unexpectedly rose in August for the first time in almost two years helped lend support to the Australian dollar, which rose half a percent to hit a three-week high of $0.7716. Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.9 percent to 2,017.94 and India’s Sensex added 0.1 percent to 28,965.06. France’s CAC-40 was down 0.4 percent at 4,541 while Germany’s DAX fell 0.6 percent to 10,690.
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He raised the threat of “uncertainties” on trade, arising from the Brexit issue, hitting economic growth – and as a result trimmed the euro area’s growth outlook for 2017 and 2018.
US stock indexes moved lower in morning trading Thursday, pulled down by a slide in technology firms, retailers and other consumer-focused companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 31 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,494. Imports expanded by an unexpectedly strong 1.5 percent, up from July’s 12.5 percent plunge. Meanwhile, exports dropped 2.8% following a 4.4% decline the month before. The improvement in imports suggested lackluster Chinese domestic demand might be firming up.
Yet the policy is not filtering through to global growth, said Mr Coulon. SocGen said that after a weak payrolls figure and dismal ISM non-manufacturing number, markets will look for signs of deterioration in the initial jobless claims and continuing claims figures for the week.
The Eurozone needs a pay raise and it needs fiscal stimulus, but the economy hasn’t weakened enough to warrant the European Central Bank using up any more of its fast-dwindling stock of ammunition.
The bank left that earliest end date unchanged.
He did, however, hint there could be more in future by confirming the Bank was studying how it might potentially change its asset-buying programme, which is also known as quantitative easing.
“Despite the market noise caused by the Brexit vote, the European Central Bank believes the impact on Eurozone GDP is likely to be only moderately negative, with the GDP forecast lowered by 0.1% in 2017 and 2018”, said Shilen Shah, bond strategist at Investec Wealth & Investment.
Brent crude was up 3.6 percent at $49.69, after hitting a peak of $49.93, US crude was last up 4.4 percent at $47.51 after hitting a one-week high of $47.58, marking the highest level since August 26 for both.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 68 cents to $46.18 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Nasdaq closed at a record for the second day in a row on Wednesday.
Prolonging the purchases is controversial because it risks further distorting market prices and even that the stock of eligible bonds will run out. During President Draghi’s press conference, the Euro took another ride, rising from $1.1274 to a high of $1.1327 and then falling back down to $1.1287. At Wednesday’s close, the pair was valued at 114.34.
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CURRENCIES: The dollar edged down to 101.50 yen from Wednesday’s 101.71 yen.
