Stocks advance after SP500, Nasdaq end at records - 19.11.2021

The Dollar strengthening has resumed currently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, lost 0.2% Thursday despite the US Labor Department report 268 thousand Americans sought unemployment benefits over the last week, down from 269 thousand the previous week.

EUR/USD joined GBP/USD’s continued advancing Thursday. Euro is lower against the Dollar currently while Pound is higher still. Both USD/JPY and AUD/USD reversed their sliding yesterday with the Australian dollar higher against Greenback currently and yen lower.

Futures on three main US stock indexes are up currently with US 10-year Treasury note yields up at 1.597%. The three main US stock benchmarks ended mixed Thursday after data showing jobless claims totaled 268,000 for the last week, little changed from a week ago but slightly higher than estimates. Indexes recorded daily returns in the range of -0.17% to 0.45%.

European stock indexes are higher currently after closing down Thursday led by oil and gas shares. Asian indexes are mostly advancing today led by Shanghai Composite while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is leading losses dragged by Alibaba plunge exceeding 10% on missed earnings for second quarter.

Brent is extending gains. Prices ended lower yesterday recovering earlier session losses after news China, top crude oil importer, was working on a release of state crude reserves. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) ended up 0.8% and is higher currently. Brent crude rose 1.2% to $81.24 a barrel on Thursday.