Stocks Advance After Trump Tweet; Dollar Gains: Markets Wrap

• April 11 2018
• Samuel Potter

European stocks rose with U.S. equity futures on Thursday after President Donald Trump hinted that American military action in Syria may not be imminent, easing some investor fears. The dollar advanced in the wake of somewhat hawkish minutes from the Federal …

European stocks rose with U.S. equity futures on Thursday after President Donald Trump hinted that American military action in Syria may not be imminent, easing some investor fears. The dollar advanced in the wake of somewhat hawkish minutes from the Federal Reserve, while bonds were mixed.

In a tweet Trump said an attack “could be very soon or not so soon at all,” helping to blunt the more downbeat sentiment seen earlier in Asia, where equity benchmarks from Tokyo to Sydney fell. Stocks in Europe got an extra hand as the region’s single currency weakened after industrial output unexpectedly declined for a third consecutive month. West Texas crude turned lower following recent big gains.

Oil has been advancing on growing concerns that the U.S. will take military action in the Middle East, and after Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile and shot down drones. While that pushed down most of the main stock benchmarks in the region, it gave a break to oil-rich Russia, where the ruble bounced back from the lowest level in 15 months.

Investors seem wedged between competing catalysts. A key U.S. inflation measure sped to the highest in a year, but traders still took cover in Treasuries and other safe-haven assets after the White House said Trump was weighing options over Syria. Separately, a bipartisan effort emerged in Congress to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired, a move that points to escalating political risk in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Fed minutes showed officials leaned toward a slightly faster pace of policy tightening at their March meeting, even as they saw clear “downside risks” for the biggest economy from retaliatory trade duties.

Terminal users can read more in our markets live blog.

Here are the main events remaining this week:

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. report first-quarter earnings on Friday

Here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.3 percent as of 11:34 a.m. London time.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index jumped 0.4 percent.
• The MSCI All-Country World Index declined 0.1 percent.
• The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.1 percent.
• Germany’s DAX Index jumped 0.5 percent.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased less than 0.05 percent.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 0.5 percent, the largest decrease in more than a week.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.2 percent, the first advance in a week.
• The euro declined 0.3 percent to $1.2333, the first retreat in a week.
• The British pound decreased less than 0.05 percent to $1.4175, the first retreat in a week.
• The Japanese yen fell 0.3 percent to 107.10 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased one basis point to 2.79 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to 0.50 percent.
• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.408 percent, the highest in a week on the biggest gain in a week.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 0.3 percent to $66.65 a barrel.
• Copper sank 2 percent to $3.06 a pound, the lowest in more than a week on the biggest tumble in two months.
• Gold sank 0.6 percent to $1,345.85 an ounce, the first retreat in a week and the largest decrease in more than a week.

— With assistance by Sofia Horta E Costa, Michael G Wilson, Adam Haigh, Sharon Cho, and Todd White