Oil Prices Drop Prior to OPEC Meeting, Slight Recovery for the Euro Against USD
December 2, 2015 7:50 am
US stocks started the month strongly, pushed on by a bounce in healthcare and consumer shares whilst signs of improvement in the auto sector were backed up by growing sales in November. However, Asian shares lagged after weak US manufacturing data raised questions about how quickly the Fed would choose to hike rates. The Dow climbed 168 points to finish the session at 17,888, the SP500 rose 22 points to close at 2102.
The Dollar’s pull back from a eight and a half month high gave some respite to the Euro, which has been battered recently by prospects of the ECB rolling out more stimulus at its policy meeting on Thursday. The Euro moved above $.10600, pulling back from a low of $1.0557. The Dollar fell back to 123.05 Yen from Monday’s high of 123.34. The Australian Dollar, already on a bullish footing after the Reserve Bank of Australia skipped a chance on Tuesday to cut interest rates, hit a seven week high of $0.7345.
In commodities, crude oil prices sagged on expectations that OPEC will not cut output to stem a supply glut when they meet later this week. U.S. crude was down 0.7% at $41.57 a barrel and Brent lost 0.2% to $44.25 a barrel.
Within the equity space Software company Sage said strong growth in recurring revenue helped to drive an 8% rise in organic group full year profits to £380m. However, statutory figures reflected the impact of currency fluctuations in Sage’s key markets of Europe, the US and Brazil, with operating profits down to £297m from £300. Sage is bottom of the FTSE100 this morning, down 3.6% at 555p per share.
US stocks started the month strongly, pushed on by a bounce in healthcare and consumer shares whilst signs of improvement in the auto sector were backed up by growing sales in November. However, Asian shares lagged after weak US manufacturing data raised questions about how quickly the Fed would choose to hike rates. The Dow climbed 168 points to finish the session at 17,888, the SP500 rose 22 points to close at 2102.
The Dollar’s pull back from a eight and a half month high gave some respite to the Euro, which has been battered recently by prospects of the ECB rolling out more stimulus at its policy meeting on Thursday. The Euro moved above $.10600, pulling back from a low of $1.0557. The Dollar fell back to 123.05 Yen from Monday’s high of 123.34. The Australian Dollar, already on a bullish footing after the Reserve Bank of Australia skipped a chance on Tuesday to cut interest rates, hit a seven week high of $0.7345.
In commodities, crude oil prices sagged on expectations that OPEC will not cut output to stem a supply glut when they meet later this week. U.S. crude was down 0.7% at $41.57 a barrel and Brent lost 0.2% to $44.25 a barrel.
Within the equity space Software company Sage said strong growth in recurring revenue helped to drive an 8% rise in organic group full year profits to £380m. However, statutory figures reflected the impact of currency fluctuations in Sage’s key markets of Europe, the US and Brazil, with operating profits down to £297m from £300. Sage is bottom of the FTSE100 this morning, down 3.6% at 555p per share.
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